


T, the Mute, Meets Daryl, the Stupid Redneck

by marta1854



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2018-12-14 12:44:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 65,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11783424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marta1854/pseuds/marta1854
Summary: T knew how to survive long before the dead woke up and the world couldn’t take it. It took only fourteen days for the government to decide to bomb cities, in T’s book they just gave up. T didn’t blame them or those who “opted out”, they didn’t know how to survive. When shit hit the fan, T was with the Jones’ and they bugged out, heading to the quarantine zone in Atlanta. They never made it as Ms. Jones got bit and they stayed in some house in a small town after she turned, not able to put her down. T and the remaining Jones’ were fine on their own till that stupid Sheriff’s Deputy arrived. Morgan convinced T to help him find his family. So T leaves Morgan and Duane the only ones left that care about T. Then after being almost eaten by a horde has to rely on some old tricks to get the group that saved the two out of the city. After all is said and done, T, a mute, then meets Daryl, the stupid redneck. They’ve both been though the same shit. So will they let each other break down the walls they both built or will someone get an arrow to the face?I DO NOT OWN THE WALKING DEAD OR ITS CHARACTERS. ONLY T AND A FEW OTHERS.





	1. He's Not the Brightest Crayon in the Box

Chapter 1-He's not the Brightest Crayon in the Box  
****T’s POV****  
“Daddy! T! I got the sumbitch! I’m gonna smack him dead!” Duane yells outside the house standing over a walker in a hospital gown with a shovel after hitting it, as we run to him after Morgan shoots a Walker that’s getting to close for comfort. I take the shovel from him as Morgan asks “He say something? I thought I heard him say something.” “He called me Carl.” Duane replies. “Son, you know they don’t talk.” Morgan says and as I check the guy for bites asks him “Hey, mister, what’s that bandage for?” “W-What?” the guy asks, so he’s not a walker. “What kind of wound?” Morgan asks pointing his gun at the guy and adds “You answer me, damn you…What’s your wound? You tell me…Or I will kill you.” The guy passes out and I start to drag him towards the house. Morgan takes the guy from me and I pick up the shovel before ushering Duane inside. I do all the locks on the door and start to hammer the boards back on as Morgan takes the guy in a room. I hurry up, not wanting Morgan to hurt the guy more than he already was. After I was done I put the hammer back on the side table and quickly walked in the room just as the guy woke up. ‘My timing is not the best.’ I think to myself scooting by Duane to get in the room.  
****Rick’s POV****   
I woke up tied on a bed to the sound of footsteps and look around. The kid I thought was Carl is standing at the door with a baseball bat and the kid that was checking me scooted by him and into the room. I heard rubber gloves snap and look to my right. The man who pointed the gun at me and shot that guy, was taking off the gloves in front of a dresser and turned to me as I looked back at the kids. A rough voice said “Got that bandage changed now.” I assumed it must be the man’s and looked at him as he added “It was pretty rank.” The taller kid then walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. The man turned looking at the kid, as he dropped his hand, and asked more to him then me, “What was the wound?” The kid moved his hands in some sort of fashion at the same time as I replied “Gunshot.” “Gunshot?” the man asked turning back to the dresser, grabbed a rag, and wiped his hands with it while turning to look at me. “What else? Anything?” he asks looking back at the taller kid. The kid shakes his head as I ask “Gunshot ain’t enough?” The man turns and walks up to me and says “Look, I ask and you answer. That’s common courtesy, right?”  
I don’t answer and just look at him causing him to sigh before he leans closer asking “Did. You. Get. Bit? T says you didn’t but he didn’t look everywhere.” I was confused at this point and asked “Bit?” The guy glances at the taller kid, who I now assumed was T, and whispers to me “Bit, chewed, maybe scratched…anything like that?” I look at T, who was now next to the bed, expecting him to say something but he doesn’t so I say “No, I got shot. Just shot as far as I know.” T starts to move his hand toward me but the man stopped him and did it instead. I moved my head back and he said “Hey, just let me.” I let him touch my forehead and he looks at the other kid and says “Feels cool enough. Fever would’ve killed you by now.” and took his hand away only for it to be replaced by a smaller one and more gentle one. “I don’t think I have one.” I say looking at T who was holding his other hand to his forehead. “Be hard to miss.” The man said looking at T after he pulled his hand away from me. T then pulled out a pocket knife and handed it to the man before walking back over to the other kid. The man then held the knife in front of my face and said “Take a moment, look how sharp it is. You try anything, I will kill you with it. And don’t you think I won’t.” before cutting what bonded me to the bed. I rubbed my wrists as the man said “Come on out when you’re able.” walking over to the two kids and added a “Come on.” before walking out of the room. T didn’t hesitate to leave but the smaller kid looked at the man then back at me before leaving.  
****T’s POV****  
“We haven’t seen another live stranger for a while, so I don’t blame Duane for hitting him.” I sign to Morgan after leaving the room of the guy. Duane tells me “Thanks.” before going in the kitchen to set the table as Morgan and I make dinner. We are just getting ready to sit down when the guy comes in. Morgan has an awkward staring contest with him as Duane looks between them. I walk over to him offering to help him, but he walks into the living room saying “This place-Fred and Cindy Drake’s?” Morgan pulls me back over to the table as he tells the guy “We’ve never met ‘em.” The guy then says “I’ve been here. This is their place.” walking up to the windows. Morgan just says “It was empty when we got here.” But the guy ignores him and goes to pull back one of the rugs. Before he could though Morgan says “Don’t do that. They’ll see the light. There’s more of them out there than usual. I never should’ve fired that gun today.” The guy starts to walk over so Morgan continues “Sound draws them. Now they’re all over the street. Stupid, using a gun. But it all happened so fast, I didn’t think.” Before sitting down. “You shot that man today.” The guy says looking at Morgan like he was a murderer. “Man?” Morgan asks in disbelief that someone didn’t know what walkers were before Duane says “It weren’t no man.” I sign “English, please.” as Morgan asks “What the hell was that out of your mouth just now?” Duane slowly says “It wasn’t a man.” looking between me, Morgan, and the guy. Stepping forward the guy accuses “You shot him in the street out front, a man.” Morgan just says “Friend, you need glasses. It was a walker. Come on, sit down. Before you fall down.” putting some food on the empty plate for the guy.  
The guy sits down ready to eat but Duane says “Daddy, blessing.” looking at Morgan who looks at the guy and says “Yeah.” Morgan put his right hand on mine while Duane grabbed my left and put his right on the table looking back and forth between the guy and his hand. The guy slowly puts his hand in Duane’s so Morgan begins the blessing “Lord, we thank thee for this food, thy blessings. And we ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. Amen.” Duane says “Amen.” as I tap the table twice and the guy just starts eating. Morgan looks at the guy and finally asks “Hey, mister, you even know what’s going on?” The guy looks at Morgan and replies “I woke up today in the hospital. Came home and that’s all I know.” Morgan looks at Duane, then me so I sign “Ask about walkers.” Morgan nods and looks at the guy and asks “But you know about the dead people, right?” “Yeah, I saw a lot of that. Out on the loading dock, piled in trucks.” He replies looking at each of us. I shake my head as Morgan says “No, not the ones they put down. The ones they didn’t, the walkers, like the one I shot today. ‘Cause he’d have ripped into you, tried to eat you, taken some flesh at least. Well, I guess if this is the first you’re hearing it, I know how it must sound.” The guy looks at Morgan and asks, not believing him, “They’re out there now? In the street?” Morgan nods and breaths out a “Yeah.” before adding looking back and forth between the guy, Duane, and I “They get more active after dark sometimes. Maybe it’s the cool air or-hell, maybe it’s just me firing that gun today. But we’ll be fine as long as we stay quiet. Probably wander off by morning…But listen, one thing I do know, don’t you get bit. I saw your bandage and that’s what we were afraid of. Bites kills you, the fever burns you out. But then after a while…you come back” The guy is silent so Duane says “Seen it happen.” and the guy just looks at us as I place a hand on Duane’s shoulder giving it a firm squeeze and gestured to the food.  
After we were done eating Duane was laying down going to sleep between me and Morgan. The silence was nice till Morgan asked the guy “Carl-he your son?” ‘No, Morgan he just said a random name, of course it’s his son.’ I thought to myself while reading. The guy looks at Morgan so he adds “Well, you-you said his name today.” The guy pauses before saying “He’s a little younger, than your boys.” I shake my head thinking ‘Is he still recovering from waking up to a dead world or is he just stupid?’ as Morgan asks “And he’s with his mother?” ignoring me. The guy sighs and says “I hope so.” and looks away from us. “Dad?” Duane asks, “Hey.” Morgan replies, I knew where this was going so I closed by book and looked at the guy, fully and not out of my peripheral vision. “Did you ask him?” Duane asks, Morgan chuckles before asking “Your gunshot-We’ve got a little be going. My boy says you’re a bank robber and T say’s you’re a cop.” The guy chuckles before saying “Yeah, that’s me, the deadliest Dillinger. Kapow.” Morgan chuckles as I sign “I lost.” Before the guy adds “Sheriff’s deputy, T’s right I am a cop.” I jump up signing “I won.” and do a little victory dance, mostly to cheer up Duane. The guy and Morgan laugh at me but the good mood was then broken by a car alarm. Duane bolts up and Morgan grabs him as he tells him “Hey, it’s okay. Daddy’s here. It’s nothing. One of them must’ve bumped a car.” motioning for me to look out the window. The guy asks “Are you sure?” starting to get up to join me at the window, and Morgan says “It happened once before. It went on for a few minutes. Get the light Duane.” before getting up also to join me at the window. The guy and Morgan turn off the lights as they get nearer, after all the lights were out I pulled the rug back a little more so Morgan and the guy could see out. I go over to the door and look out to peep hole as Morgan states “It’s the blue one on the street. The same one as last time. I think we’re okay.” The guy then asks “That noise, won’t it bring more of them?” as Duane sneaks his way over to the window. “Nothing we can do about it now. Just have to wait ‘em out till morning.” Morgan says just as Jenny comes around a corner. Duane gasps and says “She’s here.”  
Morgan says quickly “Don’t look. Get away from the windows.” ‘Like that’s going to work Morgan.’ I think to myself watching my old friend, almost mother, start to slowly make her way to the house. And I was right as Morgan says a little louder “I said go. Go on.” Duane runs away crying with Morgan going after him and leaves the guy still at the window. While Morgan has Duane cry into a pillow the guy joins me at the door to look out the peep hole at Jenny as she gets closer. ‘I know who she was is gone but it seems that she has some memory of the house, though this is just hopeful thinking.’ I think to myself walking away from the door but close enough that if she got though somehow I could take her down before she got to the others. When Jenny turns the doorknob the guy stares at it before walking back over to the blankets and sat down. Morgan then starts to explain “She, um…she died in that other room on that bed in there. There was nothing I-I could do about it. That fever, man, her skin gave off a heat like a furnace.” He starts crying a little before continuing “I should’ve-I should’ve put her down, man. I should’ve put her down. I know that, but I…You know what? I just didn’t have it in me. She’s the mother of my child. And I couldn’t let T do it she was his best friend.” The guy then looked at me and I just shook my head as the doorknob continued to rattle. He then looked at it and just watched it.   
After Duane fell asleep, Morgan looked at me as I was now sitting in the hallway with my pocket knife in my hands and said “T….you need to get some sleep.” I shook my head and didn’t look at him. “You’re not related to them are you?” The guy states more than asks suddenly looking at me. I shake my head as Morgan says “No, he’s just an old friend and neighbor.”  
*****Time skip till morning*****  
We agree to go with the guy to his house and the police department. The guy is the first out the door and asks “Are we sure they’re dead? I have to ask at least one more time.” Morgan gives a simple “They dead, except for something in the brain. That’s why it’s got to be the head.” I shut the door behind me, as I’m the last one out, as the guy starts smacking a walker that was in the yard in the head. At this point I think to myself ‘He might not be the brightest crayon in the box.’ as he ends up hurting his gunshot wound. “Y’all all right?” Morgan asks looking at him and sure enough the guy says “I need a moment.” After his moment we walked next door to what was apparently his house and as soon as he walks in he says “They’re alive, my wife and son. At least they were when they left.” Morgan, not being observant, starts to ask “How can you know? By the look of this place-“But the guy cuts him off by saying “I found empty drawers in the bedroom. They packed some clothes, not a lot, but enough to travel.” Morgan not convinced says “You know anybody could’ve broken in here and stole them clothes, right?” I sign “Pictures.” As the guy says “You see the framed photos on the walls? Neither do I. Some random thief take those too, you think?” opening a cabinet he adds “Our photo albums, family pictures, all gone.” At this Morgan laughs remembering how Jenny was in the beginning of the outbreak and says “Photo albums.” And sits down in a chair then adds “My wife, same thing. There I am packing survival gear, she’s grabbing photo alb-“ he stops when it gets too hard. So I walk around the house knowing that the conversation was going to the refugee center in Atlanta and the CDC where my brother is assigned, or was assigned. I don’t know if he’s still there or even alive. I stayed with Morgan and Duane after Jenny died for three reasons: First, all they had to defend themselves was the gun Morgan had, the shovel, and a wooden baseball bat. Second, all I had on me for a “good” weapon was a pocket knife as I had left my bow and my arrows in our hunting cabin. This was fine in this small town, to be able to protect Morgan, Duane, and I, but in the big cities…not so much. Third, I didn’t want to be alone if I went to the CDC and found my brother gone, dead, or reanimated.  
********TIME SKIP to the Police Department****  
We walk into the police department only to find it empty, there wasn’t even walkers. I walk around looking for anything useful information wise while the guys take a shower, I’ll take one when they’re done as I have more “important” things to do right now, it was more me just wanting to explore the station. I find a wall that had pictures and names of the employees. I find the guys picture and read the name “Rick Grimes”. I decide to tell that to Morgan later as I continue my search.  
****Rick’s POV****  
Morgan, Duane, and I had just finished our shower when I told Duane where the dressing room was. I turn to Morgan after he’s gone and say “Atlanta sounds like a good deal. Safer anyway, people.” Morgan looks at me and says “That’s where we were headed. T’s brother is at the CDC so we were going there. But, things got crazy. Man, you wouldn’t believe the panic. Streets weren’t fit to be on. And then my….my wife couldn’t travel.” He looks at the ground and adds “No, not with her hurt, so we had to find a place to lay low. And then after she died, we just stayed hunkered down. I guess we just froze in place.” “Plan to move on?” I ask him, he looks at me again and says “Haven’t worked up to it yet.”  
After we were dressed Morgan called for T, for some reason he didn’t want to shower with us and opted to look through the files that were in the station. T showed up around a corner and Morgan said “Showers are free if you want.” He nodded as he walked into the locker room, he locked the door after closing it. It clicked with me at that moment that T wasn’t a he but a she but I decided to ask Morgan to be sure “So, uh, is T…” Knowing where I was going said “Yeah, just don’t tell her you know or tell anyone. It’s safer for her to be a boy in a world like this.” “Okay.” I reply as I unlock the armory.  
Walking in I say “A lot of it’s gone missing.” Duane then looks at Morgan and asks “Daddy, can I learn to shoot? I’m old enough. T said that he’d teach me if you didn’t want to.” “Hell yes you’re going to learn. But we’ve got to do it carefully, teach you to respect the weapon.” Morgan says. “That’s right. It’s not a toy. You pull the trigger you have to mean it. Always remember that, Duane.” I say patting him on the shoulder. “Yes sir.” He replies looking at me. “Here. Load up.” Morgan tells Duane gesturing to the ammo as I pick up a rifle with a scope. When Morgan walks up next to me I say “You take that one. Nothing fancy. The scope’s accurate.” Gesturing to the other rifle with a scope. A few minutes later of us checking and putting the guns in bags, T is in the hall in front of the armory door signing something to Morgan. He looks around the room till he finds what he was looking for, a baton that someone must have dropped in here and hands it to T. She put it on a belt that she must have found in the station that still had a pistol in it. “That have ammo?” I ask her. She nods and signs something to Morgan and he gives her one bullet. Knowing why there was only one bullet missing from the mag I asked “Who’s was it?” not knowing if she knew or not. “Simon McDonald.” Morgan translates as she signs what must be letters. “Was he bit?” I ask. She shakes her head and walks away.  
We walk out of the station and I say “Conserve your ammo. It goes faster than you think. Especially at target practice.” Morgan tells Duane to take their bag of guns and ammo to the car but stops T from following him so I say “Are you sure you won’t come along?” Morgan says “A few more days. By then Duane will know how to shoot and I won’t be so rusty.” T looks at him confused as he says to her “You’re going with him.” She shakes her head but he says more firmly “Look, your brother is waiting for you. So you’re going with him. Your bag is in the car.” She nods and goes over to Duane signing to him before getting her bag from the car. I go get a walkie-talkie, turn it on, and hand in to Morgan saying “You’ve got one battery. I’ll turn mine on a few minutes every day at dawn. You get up there, that’s how you’ll find us.” “You think ahead.” He says “Can’t afford not to. Not anymore.” I reply. Starting to walk away he says “Listen, one thing they may not seem like much one at a time, but in a group, all riled up and hungry, man, you watch your ass and her’s, she’ll do the same for you.” “You too.” I reply shaking his hand as Duane and T walk toward us. “You’re a good man, Rick. I hope you find your wife and son. T we’ll meet again someday.” Morgan says starting to walk away. T nods and hugs Duane and Morgan before getting in the car so I say to him “Be seeing you, Duane. Take care of your old man.” “Yes sir…Take care of T.” Duane replies going to walk away till we hear a walker growl. “Leon Basset?” I ask as Morgan hugs Duane to him and as Walker Leon walks to the fence, “I didn’t think much of him, careless and dumb, but, I can’t leave him like this.” I add. “You know they’ll hear the shot.” Morgan says. “Let’s not be here when they show up.” I say walking over to walker Leon. I hear Morgan say “Let’s go, son. Come on.” Behind me before they run to their car they start it just as I shoot Leon in the head.   
I run back to my car and go to start it but notice it’s already started with the keys in the ignition, the keys I had had in my pocket. I look at T who just shrugs as if to say “What?” As we pull out the drive and go our separate ways Morgan honks goodbye as T turns the siren on for a minute then turns it off. I pull over where I saw the legless walker and told T “I just have to take care of one thing.” Before getting out of the car and walking towards the walker. I stand in front of it as I say “I’m sorry this happened to you.” Before shooting it in the head. I walk back to the car and start driving.


	2. New Friend

Chapter 2-New Friend.  
****T’s POV****  
We had been driving for a while with Rick talking about his wife, son, and his best friend Shane, before he decides to try the radio. He talks into it pausing between each sentence “Broadcasting on emergency channel. Will be approaching Atlanta on Highway 85. Anybody reads, please respond. Hello. Hello. Can anybody hear my voice? Anybody out there? Anybody hears me, please respond. Hello, can you hear my voice?”  
****Time skip****  
“Think there is any walkers?” Rick asks me as we look at the seemingly deserted gas station. I nod before I got out of the car walking towards it while looking through the deserted cars as I went. He followed me a few minutes later with a gas can but I point to a sign that says “NO GAS”. He sighs and looks around and notices a little girl, I had noticed her earlier but the way she was moving meant she was a walker so I ignored her as she was walking away from us, but Rick being stupid calls to her “Little girl? Little girl it’s okay I’m a police officer.” The girl turned to look at him and he gasped as she was basically missing half her face. She started fast walking towards us so Rick pulled out his gun, I said he was being stupid already didn’t I? I pushed his gun down as I shook my head and pulled out my pocket knife. Before he could say anything I was behind the girl who now had my knife in the back of her head. I pulled it out and stepped backwards as she fell. “So, uh….you know how to fight?” he asked looking at the dead girl as I wiped my knife off in the grass. I simply nod and go into to store part of the gas station with him following a few steps behind. By know I he knows I’m a girl as he slipped up a couple times when he was talking in the car and said that it would be good for Lori to have a “girlfriend” now that the world has ended. But I know Morgan told him before we left so he wouldn’t be surprised if I did end up talking to him, but obviously Morgan didn’t disclose much information about me other than that. I can talk at least I could a few years ago, but it’s easier to hide the fact that I’m a girl without talking so I haven’t for the past couple years much to my brother’s annoyance. We find a few water bottles and a few bags of chips that aren’t empty so I put them in my bag, as we are going throughout the store. We had split up and I was looking through the few novels that were in the store that were for sale when he said “Hey, I found a notebook you could use to communicate. It only has a few pages missing too.” I don’t find any of the books interesting so I grab a magazine before walking over to him. He hands me the notebook and a pencil but started to chuckle when he saw the magazine and asked “Cat Fancy?” I glared at him as I found an almost empty page, and wrote “Don’t judge I just like cats.” “So does almost every woman in the world. I know that Lori wanted one but Shane is allergic and since he came over all the time we couldn’t get one.” He says before adding “Let’s go. I don’t think we should push our luck here much longer.” I nod and we walk back to the car.  
We had to stop because the car ran out of gas a few miles after the gas station. He was looking at a picture of him and his family as I sat on the hood of the car waiting for him. He folded the picture, put it in his pocket, and popped the trunk. I went and got the gas can out of the trunk while he got the bag of guns and ammo from the back seat. We walked a while before we came up to a farm house “Hello? Police Officer out here. I have a kid with me too.” He says handing me the bag of guns and ammo before walking up to the house asking “Can we borrow some gas?” He sets the gas can down and as he walks up the front steps while taking off his hat. Knocking on the door he asks “Hello? Anybody home?” He gets no response so he starts looking through the windows he pauses for a long time at one before stepping away from it looking down, back at it, then at me. He shakes his head as he walks towards a bench next to a tree. I look around and see a truck in the drive way I go over to it and open the hood to see if there was anything wrong with it. There wasn’t so I went and tried to hot wire it, as I didn’t see the keys inside it, Rick noticed this and came over to see what I was doing and asked “Do you really know how to hot wire a car?” I nod as I get the engine to turn over but the tank was basically empty so it wouldn’t get us anywhere but down the driveway. Rick sees this and starts to walk away when a horse nickers. He looks at it before going over to it as I scavenge the truck for anything useful. I put the gloves and flashlight I found in my bag as I see Rick struggling to get the horse to walk with him.   
I start to go over and the horse looks at me and trots over with Rick in tow. “You the horse whisperer or something?” He asks as I take the rope he tied around its neck and nod, since all animals have always liked me, not just horses. I then lead the horse to the barn. A few minutes later I have the saddle and harness on the horse. Rick comes in as I’m looking for something to stand on so I can get on the horse without having to jump so he says “Here, step in my hands and I’ll boost you up.” Walking over and cupping his hands as he kneels. I nod and put my right foot in his hands as I held on to him and the horse. He lifted me up slowly and I swung my left leg over the horse getting on. He gets on behind me and says “I haven’t rode a horse in years.” I shook my head as I handed him the reigns He gets it and says “But you’re still going to let me drive aren’t you.” I nod a pat the horse’s neck as Rick kicked his sides so he would start walking.  
****Time Skip*****  
We haven’t seen many walkers yet as we ride through the city but a few that are in some cars. Each time one moves towards us the horse gets scared and Rick says “Easy, it’s just a few nothing we can’t out run.” ‘God damn it Rick stop jinxing us!’ I tell him in my head as he said that for the tenth time. A minute or so goes by and we see a tank in the middle of the road with crows eating the fully dead body on it. Rick pauses a minute before continuing but then he stops again looking at the sky I don’t see or hear anything but suddenly He kicks the horse and is running chasing his hallucination. I hang on to the horse trying not to fall as it gallops. Rick turns into a street full of walkers and quickly turns the horse around back the way we came but he jinxed us and the few that we met on the way were now in a group in front of us. “Oh shit.” He says as we start to get surrounded by the walkers we’re then taken to the ground as the walkers pull the horse down from under us. I quickly get to my feet and climb the tank and pull my knife out having dropped by gun in the fall. I’m trying to get the walkers attention as Rick scrambles on the ground. I look around and see that the hatch on the tank is open. I’m about to get in it when I see someone on a roof that’s about 50 yards away waving an arm and pointing to an alleyway. I look around for Rick but I don’t see him so I think the worst till I hear a gunshot from under the tank. “T if you can run, do it now!” he yells as he shoots again. The walkers have forgotten about me now and are either starting to crawl under the tank or are going to the horse, so I jump off the tank a make a break for the alley dodging the strangler walkers. I manage to get to fire escape and quickly climb up it as the walkers in the alley reach for me. At the top there’s a Korean guy who helps pull me up, I nod my head at him and we climb the fire escape to the roof of the building. I hadn’t heard any gun shots for a minute so I ran to the ledge and the guy followed me. I then heard one shot that was muffled from it being in the tank and waited for Rick to close the hatch that was open on top of it. Slowly his head came up and he looked at the bag he dropped. The walkers saw him and started to climb the tank so he shut the hatch. The guy then pulls out a walkie-talkie and says “Hey you, dumbass. Yeah you in the tank, are you cozy in there?”   
****Glenn’s POV****   
I was watching from a roof top as the two on the horse where becoming surrounded by the horde. When they got pulled down the smaller one is quickly on his feet and climbs the tank. He reaches for something on his belt but it’s no longer there so he pulls what looks like a knife out of his pocket as he watched the cop scramble on the ground away from the walkers. Then he looks around and sees me on the roof and I wave one of my arms as I point to the ally that had a fire escape. He looks for the cop but couldn’t see him as he had crawled under the tank. There was a gunshot and then some yelling all I could make out of it was “Run.” As there was another gunshot from under the tank, the guy on the roof then jumps off the tank and sprints to the alley so I sprint to the fire escape to help him if he needed it. But I had only just gotten to the bottom floor of the escape when the guy makes it into the alley, ‘Damn, he might be faster than me’ I think to myself as he quickly closes the distance between him and the ladder. He quickly climbs up as the walkers in the alley are now reaching for him. When he reaches the top I help pull him up, he nods his head and starts to climb up the rest of the way to the roof as I follow him. We hadn’t heard any gunshots for a minute so when we got to the roof we went to the ledge. A muffled one came from inside the tank so we waited for the other one to close the hatch that was on top of it. He finally popped out and looked at the bag he had dropped when they went down with the horse. The walkers took notice of him and started to climb the tank so he shut the hatch.  
I pulled out the walkie-talkie I had and say “Hey you, dumbass. Yeah you in the tank, are you cozy in there?” a few minutes go by and the guy next to me looked at me with an approving look, probably to the dumbass comment, so I tried again “Hey are you alive in there?” “Hello? Hello?” the cop from the tank says and the one on the roof with me sighed and sat down. “There you are. You had us wondering.” I say causing the cop in the tank to ask. “Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now? The kid I was with is he okay?” “Yeah, I can see you. You’re surrounded by walkers. That’s the bad news.” I reply causing him ask “There’s good news?” “Your friend is okay. He’s up on the roof with me.” I say so he comes back with “Listen, whoever you are, I don’t mind telling you. I’m a little concerned in here.” “Oh man. You should see it from over here. You’d be having a major freak-out.” I say earning a “Got any advice for me?” “Yeah, I’d say make a run for it.” I say, the one with me just shook his head at me as the one in the tank asked “That’s it? Make a run for it?” “My way’s not as dumb as it sounds. You’ve got eyes on the outside here. There’s one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?” I say. “So far.” He replies so I continue “Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they’re distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?” “In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?” he replies. “Forget the bag, okay? It’s not an option. What do you have on you?” I say and look as the guy next to me is now digging through his bag. “Hang on.” The cop in the tank says a few minutes go by and he adds “I’ve got a Beretta with one clip, 15 rounds.” So I say “Make ‘em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There’s an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. Be there.” “Hey, what’s your name?” the cop in the tank asks so I say “Have you been listening? You’re running out of time.” “Right.” He replies. The hatch opens the cop hits the walker on the tank with a shovel. He then gets out of and off the tank and starts firing at the walkers in front of him as he runs to the alley. “I’m going to go help him.” I say, to the guy he just nods and continues taking stuff out of his bag probably to make it lighter, before I head to the fire escape and into the ally.  
A few minutes and shots later the cop is pointing his gun in my face so I quickly yell “Woah! Not dead! Come On! Come On! Back here! Come on! Come on!” We get there and I start climbing as he runs out of bullets and stands at the bottom so I yell “What are you doing?! Come on!” He starts climbing then and I help him up at the top and we’re both panting. “Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?” I ask him so he replies “It wasn’t my intention.” “Yeah, Whatever. Yeehaw. You’re still a dumbass.” I say to him. “Rick, Thanks.” He says holding out his hand for me to shake, I shake it and say “Glenn you’re welcome. Your friend’s up top.” The walkers have now started to climb the ladder so I turn around saying “Oh no.” and look up. His friend is looking over the ledge at us and I turn to Rick and say “Bright side: It’ll be the fall that kills us. I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy.” Before I start climbing with him following close behind.  
****T’s POV****  
I was watching Glenn and Rick as they climbed the ladder up to me and as they got closer I moved to help them up. We start walking on the other roof as Rick asks “You the one who barricaded the alley?” still out of breath. “Somebody did. I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through.” Glenn says as we jog to a way inside a building. As he opens it Rick asks “Back at the tank, why’d you stick your neck out for us?” Glenn replies “call it foolish, naïve hope that if I’m ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. Guess I’m an even bigger dumbass than you guys.” As he takes off his bag, throws it in the opening, and starts climbing down the ladder. Rick stands there for a minute before motioning for me to go down the ladder and help me get through the opening with my bag still on. I was smaller than Glenn so it was possible for me to do so. Rick then followed me and closed the hatch to the opening above him. Glenn jumped off the ladder at the last couple rungs and grabs his bag and starts to leave. I copy him and jump as well but wait at the door way for Rick. He hops down and follows me as I follow Glenn. We go through a door and Glenn pulls out his walkie-talkie as we run down the stairs and says “I’m back. Got two guests plus four geeks in the alley.” We make it down the stairs and the walkers notice us. I pull out my knife and push past Glenn going for the one closest to us as a door opens up and two people with baseball bats hit the two closest to the door. Rick and Glenn start running to the door as I take down the last standings zombie in the alley. The two people with bats are beating the other two walkers’ faces in as I follow Rick and Glenn as he says “Let’s go!” We get to the door and someone yells “Morales, let’s go!” and the two people with the bats are running into the room with one closing the door behind them.  
All of a sudden a blonde woman point a gun in Rick’s face, with the safety on, and says “You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you two.” “Just chill out Andrea. Back off.” The Mexican guy says so the African American woman adds “Come on, ease up.” “Ease up? You’re kidding me, right? We’re dead because of these stupid assholes.” Andrea says so the Mexican guy walks up to her and says “Andrea, I said back the hell off.” Glenn is standing next to me watching her, not wanting her wrath directed towards him. I know that her safety is on so I look around the room and find we’re in a back room of what seems to be a department store. The Mexican guy that is next to Andrea then says after the long pause “Well, pull the trigger. Kill that kid’s father.” Pointing at me. She looks at me then backs off of Rick and tells Rick “We’re dead, all of us, because of you.” Rick looks at me before he says “I don’t understand.” The Mexican guy then takes Rick to the front of the store with all of us in tow, and says “Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it’s the O.K. Corral.” “Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds.” The African American guy adds so Andrea point out “You just rang the dinner bell.” “Get the picture now?” the Mexican guy asks. They were all looking at the walkers knocking on the front of the store when a walker with a rock started to bang on the window and it started to crack. “Oh god.” Andrea says and they all back up. I stay where I was calculating how long it would take for the walkers to break both windows. “What the hell were you doing out there anyway?” Andrea asks Rick at this I look at him wanting to know as well. “Trying to flag the helicopter.” He says. I sigh and slowly make my way over to the first door as The African American guy says “Helicopter? Man, that’s crap! Ain’t no damn helicopter.” “You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things it happens.” The African American woman says. “I saw it. T what do you think you’re doing?!” Rick says finally noticing me as I am now knocking on the first door checking how strong they may be. They all sigh as I make my way back over to them and the Mexican guy says “Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. can you contact the others?” “What others? The refugee center?” Rick asks causing the African American woman to say sarcastically “Yeah, the refugee center. They’ve got biscuits waiting at the oven for us.” “Got no signal. Maybe the roof.” T-Dog say as there was a gunshot that came from the roof. “Oh no. Is that Dixon?” Andrea asks while the other woman asks “What is that maniac doing?” “Come on let’s go.” the Mexican guy says and they all start running to get to the roof.   
I followed as I wanted to make sure that Rick didn’t do anything stupid, like he’s prone to doing. We make our way up to the roof and they run out “Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!” the Mexican guy asks/yells. I hang back at the door as I wanted to be able to assess the situation without getting caught in the crossfire. “Oh jeez.” Andrea says as Dixon shoots again laughing before turning and looking at them saying “Hey! Y’all be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh?” jumping down from the ledge of the roof and adding “Only common sense.” ‘They’re both right. In their own way.’ I think to myself as T-Dog yells “Man, you wasting bullets we ain’t even got! And you’re bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill.” “Bad enough I got this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I’m gonna take orders from you? I don’t think so, bro. That’ll be the day.” Dixon says walking towards T-Dog so he asks. “That’ll be the day? You got something you want to tell me?” “Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it. It ain’t worth it alright.” The Mexican guy says causing T-Dog to say “No.” “Now Merle, just relax, okay? We’ve got enough trouble.” The Mexican guy says as Rick looks at Glenn who shook his head. “You want to know the day?” Merle asks so T-Dog answers “Yeah.” “I’ll tell you the day, Mr. “yo.” It’s the day I take orders from a nigger.” Merle say. At this T-Dog takes a swing at Merle but he hits him with the rifle. “Hey, Merle that’s enough.” Rick says running up to him to try to get him to not hit T-Dog again. Merle punches T-Dog as Rick gets to them and Andrea yelling “Come on.” They’re all yelling at this point and all I’m thinking is ‘How is it possible that I’m now stuck with a group of idiots?’ I catch Rick after he was punched by Merle as I didn’t want him to get knocked out and Andrea yells “Dixon!” as he goes and kicks T-Dog. He then grabs him and pushes him, he ends up hitting one of the pipes that are on the roof with his head as Andrea yells “Stop it! Dixon, get off him! Dixon, you’re gonna hurt him.” I’m helping Rick up, but he took a hard hit to the face so he’s “off his rocker”, as I think to myself ‘Yeah, yelling at him will stop him. Grabbing him defiantly won’t work. Good job… dumbasses.’ Merle’s now kicking T-Dog on the ground then gets on him and starts punching him in the face as the Mexican guy says “Merle, cut it out!” and tries to stop him but gets punched in the gut ‘At least he tried. The others are still just watching.’ I think as Merle points a gun at T-Dog.   
“No, no, no. Please.” Andrea pleads. Thunder rumbles in the distance so I turn my attention to the sky watching the clouds start to get denser thinking ‘If we’re going to get out of here we have to do it soon.’ I hear Merle spit then yell before saying “Yeah! All right! We’re gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who’s in charge. I vote me. Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time, y’all. Show of hands, huh? All in favor? Huh?” as the others are pulling T-Dog away from him. ‘He’s not completely there.’ I think to myself as I pull out my knife and clean it, for when and if I had to use it against him, as he adds “Come on. Let’s see ‘em.” Andrea says “Oh, come on.” Merle then says “All in favor? Yeah. That’s good. Now that means I’m the boss, right? Yeah. Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?” As the others raise their hand. Rick finally out of his stupor approaches Merle saying “Yeah.” Before hitting him with the butt of the rifle he then gets on him and handcuffs one of his hands then puts the other onto a screw on a pipe. Rick pulls him up and Merle asks “Who the hell are you, man?!” Rick gets in him face and says “Officer friendly.” Backing up he adds “Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There’s us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart.” As he’s messing with the gun Merle had. “Screw you, man.” Merle says slowly so Rick, clearly using his cop voice, says “I can see you make a habit of missing the point.” While looking at him. “Yeah? Well, screw you twice.” Merle says back. Rick’s pissed now so he points the gun at Merle’s head and says “Ought to be polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense.” Motioning for me with his other hand so I get out of range as Merle looks at him and says “You wouldn’t. You’re a cop.” At this Rick takes the gun away from Merle’s head saying “All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son, and that kid’s brother. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I’ll give you a moment to think about that.” He starts to pat him down and then finding some drugs Rick says “Got some on your nose there.” And flicks him in the nose before getting up. “What are you gonna do? Arrest Me?” Merle laughs as I sit on the ledge of the roof. Merle then adds “Hey! What are you doing? Man, that was my stuff! Hey! If I get loose, you’d better pray-Yeah, you hear me, you pig?! You hear me?!” as Rick throws the drugs off the building and starts to walk away. “Yeah, your voice carries.” Rick says as he goes to the ledge of the roof, the Mexican guy was following him. Merle yells at Rick again “Do you hear me, you filthy pig?!” before looking at me, a hint of sympathy in his eyes, as Rick and the Mexican guy talk so I turn my attention back to the sky.   
I feel Merle watching me as I ignored him and the conversation next to me till Rick and the Mexican guy came back and asked “How’s the signal?” ‘Non-existent, gone, not there, weak. Take your pick.’ I think looking at him like he’s stupid as T-Dog says “Like Dixon’s brain. Weak.” ‘That’s just mean.’ I think as Rick comes over to me and pulls me off the ledge. Merle then flips T-Dog off. “Keep trying.” Mexican guy say causing Andrea to say “Why? There’s nothing they can do. Not a damn thing.” As she walks away from us to go through a bag. “Got some people outside the city is all. There’s no refugee center. That’s a pipe dream.” The Mexican guy says as Rick looks at me before asking “What about the CDC?” “Don’t know. I haven’t heard anything about it, so maybe it’s still running. You got friends there?” The Mexican guy says, though not hopeful so Rick says “T’s brother. But Andrea’s right. We’re on our own. It’s up to us to find a way out.” “Good luck with that. These streets ain’t safe in this part of town from what I hear. Ain’t that right, sugar tits? Hey, honeybunch. What say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Gonna die anyway.” Merle says to Andrea who says “I’d rather.” At this point I’m bored of the conversation again so tune them out as I sit back on the ledge of the roof watching the sky again.   
A few minutes go by and I notice the only ones on the roof are Merle, T-Dog, and I. T-Dog’s no longer messing with the C.B. so I hop off the ledge, grab it, and switch it to a frequency that always had less static and hand it back to T-Dog who says “Anybody out there? Hello? Anybody read? I’m hoping to hear somebody’s voice ‘cause I’m getting sick and tired of hearing mine.” “Yeah, well, that makes three of us. Why don’t you knock that crap off? You’re giving me a headache, boy.” Merle says and spits on the ground next to him. “Why don’t you pull your head out of your ass? Maybe your headache will go away. Try some positivity for a change. Damn.” T-Dog says handing me the C.B. so I start to scan the frequencies as Merle says “I’ll tell you what, you get me out of these cuffs and I’ll be all “Sammy Sunshine” positive for you. Hey, see that hacksaw over there in that tool bag? Get it for me, Hmm? Make it worth your while. What do you say, Man? Come on. Get me out of these things.” “So you can beat my ass again? Or call me nigger some more? Or hurt him?” T-Dog says pointing to me causing me to roll my eyes and Merle to say “Come on now. It wasn’t personal. It’s just that your kind and my kind ain’t meant to mix. That’s all. It don’t mean we can’t, work together, parley, as long as there’s some kind of mutual gain involved. So….about that hacksaw-“ “I guess you want me to get that rifle over there too, so you can shoot that cop when he comes back up, huh?” T-Dog asks I give him back the C.B. as I found a semi good signal but the group comes back to the roof and look over it with binoculars.   
“That construction site, those trucks-they always keep keys on hand. Though T could hot wire one of them it may take too much time.” Rick says handing the binoculars to the Mexican guy who says “You guys will never make it past the walkers.” “You got me out of that tank.” Rick says to Glenn causing him to say “Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted.” “Can we distract them again?” Rick asks me more than Glenn. I can only nod, as I lost my notebook back at the tank. Then Merle says “Right. Listen to him. He’s onto something. A diversion, like on Hogan’s Heroes.” “God. Give it a rest.” The African American woman tells him but Rick asks Glenn “They’re drawn by sound, right?” “Right, like dogs. They hear a sound, they come.” He says. Looking at me then Rick asks “What else?” I touch my eyes then my nose as the Mexican guy says “Aside from they hear you? They see you, smell you and if they catch you, they eat you.” Rick being the special kind of stupid he is asks “They can tell us by smell?” I smack my forehead with my hand while Glenn asks “Can’t you?” and Andrea says “They smell dead, we don’t. It’s pretty distinct.” Rick looks at me and sighs. ‘I know where this is going.’ I think.  
*****Time skip to chopping up walkers Wayne Dunlap and Max Smith*****  
Rick breaks the glass to get the fire ax, goes to chop one of the walkers but he stops, takes off the face guard, throws it and the ax on the ground, and searches for something on the walkers. He pulls out each of their wallets and starts going through it saying “Wayne Dunlap. Georgia license. Born in 1979. Max Smith. Georgia license. Born in 1988.” As he hands the licenses to Glenn he adds “Wayne had 28 dollars in his pocket when he died…and a picture of a pretty girl. “With love, from Rachel.” Max had an engagement ring in his pocket when he died and picture of little girl. “May, age 3.” They used to be like us worrying about bills, or rent, or the super bowl. If I ever find my family, I’m gonna tell them about Wayne and Max.” Rick puts the face guard back on and gets the ax as Glenn says “One more thing-They were organ donors.” Before Rick starts to chop them up with the ax. As he was doing it everyone, but him and I, was groaning in disgust. He hands the ax and face guard to Morales and tells him to “keep chopping.” “I’m so gonna hurl.” Glenn says leaning over. I pat his back as Rick says “Later.” When Morales was done Rick says “Everyone got gloves? Don’t get any on your skin or in your eyes.” Before everyone gets some goop and smears it on Rick, Glenn, and I. “Oh, God. Oh, Jeez. This is really bad.” Glenn says so Rick tells him “Think about something else…puppies and kittens.” “Dead puppies and kittens.” T-Dog says. At this Glenn turns and vomits as I glare at T-Dog and Andrea says “That is just evil. What is wrong with you?” Then Jacqui says “Next time let the cracker beat his ass.” “I’m sorry, yo.” T-Dog apologizes causing Glenn to say “You suck.” “Do we smell like them?” Rick asks then so Andrea replies “Oh yeah.” Before pulling out her gun and holding it out to Glenn saying “Glenn. Just in case.” He stands so she places in the front of his pants as Rick says “If we make it back, be ready.” ‘Rick stop jinxing us!’ I yell at him in my head as T-Dog asks “What about Merle Dixon?” Rick then pulls out the key to the handcuffs and throws it to T-Dog without a word.  
****Time skip till in the street before the rain*****  
Rick has the ax and his gun, Glenn has Andrea’s gun and a crowbar, and I have my knife as we make our way to the street from the alley. We fake limp to distract the few walkers that were now in the alley so we’re slow as we make it to the bus that blocks the crowd of walkers from the alley. We crawl under it and slowly make our way down the street. I hear thunder again so I pick up my pace a bit but I’m still going slow enough that the walkers are still fooled. Then Glenn whispers “It’s gonna work. I can’t believe it.” “Don’t draw attention.” Rick whispers back just as a walker starts to walk between them looking at Glenn. ‘How come I get stuck with the ones that jinx themselves?!’ I ask myself as it leaves them but it starts to rain and the walkers start to notice us. I look at Rick as Glenn asks “The smell’s washing off. Isn’t it? Is it washing off?” “No, it’s not. Well, maybe.” Rick says after a walker takes a long look at him and the ones we are passing start to follow us. Then one of them roars and goes for Rick, he chops its head with the ax and yells “Run!” He didn’t have to tell me twice as I started sprinting to the fence with Glenn and Rick a few feet behind me as I was faster than them. I took out a few walkers as I went and Glenn and Rick did the same. I was dropping down on the other side of the fence when they got there and threw their weapons over and stated to jump up the fence. They dropped down as I was taking off the coat with the guts. They did the same as I stabbed some of the walkers in their eyes. Glenn went to get the keys as Rick shot some of the walkers that managed to climb the fence a few feet back. “Rick!” Glenn yells throwing him the keys he caught them and we ran to one of the vans. Rick starts the engine and we take off we have to smash through the fence on the other side of the site. “Oh my god. Oh my god. They’re all over that place.” Glenn yells in a panic. “You guys need to draw them away. Those roll-up doors at the front of the store, that area? That’s what I need cleared. Raise your friends. Tell them to get down there and be ready.” Rick says so Glenn says. “And we’re drawing the geeks away how? I-I missed that part.” “Noise.” Rick answers.  
A few minutes later we find a sports car that is in good shape and Rick stops the car and asks me “Can you get into it and start it?” I nod, take the crowbar from him and break the window so the car alarm goes off. “I could have done that.” Rick says as I knock out the remaining glass and open the door. Using a screw driver I found in the back of the van I start the engine and scoot over to the passenger side for Glenn to get in. Rick goes out of the lot and we follow him as Glenn talks into the radio “Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street-meet us there and be ready.” We then past him and soon pass the street the store is on. Glenn backs up into the street and stops having the walkers crowd the car. “Come on, get closer, get closer.” He says and when they’re close enough he backs up and spins the car around leading them away from everyone. As we leave the city Glenn is now enjoying the fact that he’s driving a sports car and yells “Whoo-hoo-hoo! Yeah-hoo-hoo!” We see a walker on the side of the road that has a bow and a quiver with a few arrows in it in the distance. I look at Glenn and point at it with my knife. “Got it.” He says and as we get closer stops the car. I get out and run at the walker archer and kill it quickly. I take the bow and the quiver as Glenn slowly pulls up to me. I get in and he floors it asking “Do you really know how to use that?” I nod and he says “I should have known. You are like a one stop shop of awesomeness!” I look at him as he smiles stupidly and I can’t help but laugh at him. He joins in and says “I knew you weren’t a boy. You’re too fast. I won’t tell the others. They’ll make fun of me for losing to a girl.” I shake my head at him as the van is coming into view ahead of us.


	3. Chapter 3-He Your Brother?

****T's POV****

"Whoohoo!" Glenn screamed as we passed the cube van that held the others. ‘I hope T-Dog unlocked Dixon. No one deserves to die like that.’ I thought to myself as we pass the van. I shake my head as Glenn smiles at me. We had sort of became friends during the ride though it’s almost like we’re siblings, he reminds me of Yori in the way that he acts so I guess that’s why we became such quick friends. He told me about his life before the world took a shit and asked me yes or no questions about mine to which I would answer with a nod or shake of my head. He also had me show a few signs like run, hide, search, and stop. As we were now on a dirt road he started to explain the people in his group that I didn't meet yet "There's Amy, Andrea's sister I'd say she's about the same age as you maybe little younger. Since it’s hard to tell how old you are. Jim, a tall and skinny guy who was a mechanic. Lori, long brown hair and the mother of Carl, boy about 12 years old. Dale, old grandfather type. Shane, big guy who was a cop. Carol, short grayish hair, mother of Sophia, girl about 12 years old, wife of Ed, I suggest you stay away from him he has a very bad temper. Morales's wife, Miranda, and his 2 kids, Eliza and Louis, about 12 and 11. Then there's Daryl, Merle's brother, and a few others." I nod as we pull up next to other cars and people run to the car.

He parks the car getting out as someone yells "Holy Crap. Turn that damn thing off!" "I don’t know how." Glenn says laughing as I reach over and pop the hood just as someone starts to tell him to do it. I get out and grab (now) my bow and the arrows, as someone tries to disconnect the battery and a girl I assume is Amy bombards Glenn with questions "Is she okay? Is she alright?” “She’s okay! She’s okay!” he replies so she asks, more distraught “Is she coming back? Why isn’t she with you? Where is she? She’s Okay?" "Yes! Yeah, fine. Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much." Glen answers as someone disconnects the battery. “Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here? Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?” a guy who I assume is Shane, as he talks like Rick, asks Glenn so a guy that has to be Dale says “I think we’re okay.” “You call being stupid okay?” Shane asks so Dale explains “Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source. I’m not arguing. I’m just saying. It wouldn’t hurt you to think a little more carefully next time, would it?” “Sorry. Got a cool car.” Glenn says and at that I smack my forehead as Dale nods reluctantly. It’s then that the cube van pulls up.

Andrea jumps out and runs to Amy, and Morales goes to his wife and kids saying "I told you I'd be back, didn’t I?" I walk over to the van, slinging my bow and the quiver over my shoulder to get my bag that I left in the van. I see Rick in the front and he shakes his head at me so I check the back of the van for Merle and my bag. He’s not there so I grab my bag and make a mental note to ask Rick about Merle as Morales yells "Hey, Helicopter boy and quiet kid! Come say hello." I assume quiet kid is me so I follow Rick a few feet before he stops looking at a woman and a boy, who seem like who Glenn described as Lori and Carl then I think ‘Wait Carl is Rick’s sons name and they look like the people in his picture’. My thoughts were confirmed as Rick says “Oh my God” as the kid ran to him yelling "Dad! Dad!" Rick met Carl half way as Lori looked at the two shocked for a moment before she comes over and hugs both of them. I stand back and watch the happy family and looked around the group hoping for a familiar face. Glenn looks at me and I shake my head and turn to walk towards the van thinking ‘My brothers not here, not that I thought he’d be but it would have been nice.’

"Hey, Dale you don't happen to have a notebook and pen for T?" Glenn asks causing me to stop and look at him and Dale to ask "Why?" "He's mute and he dropped his back in the city." “I'll go look for one for you." Dale, Lori, and Miranda told me so I nodded and went and got on top of the van. A few minutes later Dale comes over to the van holding a large notebook. I take it from him as I nod at him in thanks and open the notebook to the first page and started to write simple responses and questions that I would need commonly. “Dinner will be ready in an hour or so.” He tells be before going back to the group. I start to clean the bow and the few arrows that I had making a mental note to make better ones or ask Glenn to go on a run with me to get some. It was dark by the time I finished sharpening the arrows as they were dull, that was the death of the walker I got them from. I hopped off the van and joined Rick and the others around the fire at the same time as Shane. I didn’t like the vibe the Shane gave off most of the time so I waited for him to sit down before sitting down myself, next to Glenn. Suddenly Dale asks Rick “Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won’t be happy to hear his brother was left behind.” “I’ll tell him. I dropped the key. It’s on me.” T-Dog says. ‘So he’s still alive. I’ll ask Rick in the morning if we’re going back to get him.’ I think to myself as Rick says “I cuffed him. That makes it mine.” “Guys, it’s not a competition. I don’t mean to bring race into this but it might sound better coming from a white guy.” Glenn says so T-Dog says “I did what I did. Hell if I’m gonna hide from him.” “We could lie.” Amy suggests causing Andrea to say “Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he’d have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody’s fault but Merle’s.” “And that’s what we tell Daryl? I don’t see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?” Dale asks Andrea before looking around at the others and adds “Word to the wise…..We’re gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt.” Glenn looks at me but I shake my head so he doesn’t say anything. “I was scared and I ran. I’m not ashamed of it.” T-Dog says causing Andrea to ask “We were all scared. We all ran. What’s your point?” “I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It’s not enough to break through that-not that chain, not that padlock. My point, Dixon’s alive and he’s still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That’s on us.” T-Dog says getting up and leaving. Slowly the others left to go to their beds, leaving me alone with Glenn. “You could share my tent. So you don’t have to sleep on the ground or on top of that van.” Glenn tells me. I sigh as I watch the embers of the fire start to go out and hear thunder in the distance before nodding.

****time skip till morning****

I was cleaning my bow on top of the van again as it was a good vantage point to watch the group do their chores. Glenn was upset that Dale and Jim took apart the sports car for parts and gas so he wasn’t doing much but watch them take it apart. Shane had just come back with the water when a woman screamed followed by the kids screaming for their parents, I quickly grabbed an arrow and jumped off the van running towards the screams. I got there as Jacqui pulled them back from the walker eating a deer that had arrows sticking out of it and led them away. I notched my arrow and aimed it at the walker as the guys ran up, finally, and made a semi-circle around it. I stepped back as they started to beat it so I didn’t get caught in the crossfire, with their stupidity it was a possibility, but kept my bow ready and aimed if needed. Dale decapitated it with an ax and says “It’s the first one we’ve had up here. They never come this far up the mountain.” “Well, they’re running out of food in the city, that’s what.” Jim says before a branch snaps and there’s a rustle in the bushes so everyone aims their weapons at the spot ready for whatever it was. A few moments later a guy with a crossbow comes out saying “Son of a bitch. That’s my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this…” as he walks over to the walker and starts to kick it adding “Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless proxy bastard!” “Calm down, son. That’s not helping.” Dale says so the guy who I assume is Daryl then says, while striding towards him “What do you know about it, old man? Why don’t you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?” he turns away and starts to pull out his arrows adding “I’ve been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?” I turn and start walking away as Shane says “I would not risk that.” Daryl then sighs and says “That’s a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That’ll have to do.” But then I hear the walker opens its mouth so I quickly spin around and shoot it in the head at the same time as the guy does as he asks "Come on, people. What the hell? It’s gotta be the brain. Don’t y’all know nothing?” Without noticing I did so he goes to get his arrow but pauses seeing mine as well. Glenn then looks at me and cheers “T one, walker head zero! T the one stop shop of awesomeness has done it again! If he can’t do it no one can!” I glare at him as the others look at me like I grew another head. As I walk forward to get my arrow back Daryl pulls his and my arrow from the head, wipes them on the ground, and holds mine out to me. I nod as I take it from him and inspect it as it didn’t fly like I wanted. “That was a nice shot. Considering your arrows not the best.” He tells me quietly before walking off towards camp yelling for Merle. ‘Well that went well. But now all hell’s about to break lose.’ I think to myself as I follow the others towards camp.

****Daryl's POV****

While tracking the deer I heard the kids’ screams from camp and picked up my pace, I didn’t care about the others but kids were a different matter. I reach a clearing with everyone pointing their weapon in my direction, a guy I haven't seen before aiming an arrow, that wasn’t the best quality, at me a few feet away from the group but in front of the kids causing something to start to stir in the back of my mind. I then see my deer and a decapitated Walker. “Son of a bitch. That’s my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this…” I yell walking over to the walker and start kicking it adding “Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless proxy bastard!” “Calm down, son. That’s not helping.” Dale tells me so I approach him saying “What do you know about it, old man? Why don’t you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?” turning away I start to pull out my arrows adding “I’ve been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?” The guy with the bow turns and starts walking away as Shane says “I would not risk that.” I sigh and tell them “That’s a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That’ll have to do.” But then I hear the walker opens its mouth so I shoot it in the head as I say "Come on, people. What the hell? It’s gotta be the brain. Don’t y’all know nothing?” I go to get my arrow put pause seeing another arrow in the walkers head. All of a sudden Glenn cheers “T one, walker head zero! T the one stop shop of awesomeness has done it again! If he can’t do it no one can!” while looking at the guy who is now glaring at him. As he walks forward to get his arrow back I pull both his and my arrow from the head, wipe them on the ground, and holds his out for him. He nods taking it from me and inspects it. ‘He makes a successful shot with a poor arrow. He might be useful for future hunts.’ I think to myself before telling him, quietly so only he could hear, “That was a nice shot. Considering your arrows not the best.”

I then walking off towards camp yelling “Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let’s stew ‘em up.” “Daryl, just slow up a bit I need to talk to you.” Shane says so I stop and ask “About what?” “About Merle. There was a-There was a problem in Atlanta.” He tells me walking in front of me so I look between him and another new guy twice before asking “He dead?” “We’re not sure.” Shane answers so being angry now I yell “He either is or he ain’t!” New guy then walks up to us and says “No easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it.” “Who are you?" I ask/yell at him whipping around causing him to pause before saying "Rick Grimes." "Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?” I ask him causing him to tell me “Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He’s still there.” “Hold on. Let me process this. You’re saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!” I ask/yell. I see red as he just answers “Yeah.” So I throw the squirrels at him and go to punch him but Shane pushes me down. I pull out my knife and T-Dog yells “Watch the Knife!” I stand up and try to stab Rick but before I know it I'm on the ground with T on top of my chest, his legs on either side of me keeping me in place, my knife in his hands barely touching my neck, and his silver eyes watching my face calmly.

“You’d best let me go!” I yell at him as a feeling I haven’t felt before, but showed up when I first saw him, made itself known in the back of my mind again. He shakes his head and Rick comes over and says “I’d like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?” I don’t reply so he asks again “Do you think we can manage that?” looking at T now, who nods. Rick then says “Yeah.” So T scoots down to where he’s sitting in my lap as I sit up keeping me from getting up to kick Rick’s ass. “What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others.” Rick says but then T-Dog says “It’s not Rick’s fault. I had the key. I dropped it.” “You couldn’t pick it up?” I asked angry. “Well, I dropped it down a drain.” He says and at this T gets up and offers me a hand. “If that’s supposed to make me feel better it don’t.” I say as I get up on my own and start walking towards my tent. I stop when T-Dog says “Well, maybe this will. Look I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn’t get at him. With a padlock.” “It’s gotta count for something.” Rick says so I look around at everyone, except for T as he’s no longer where he was, and say “Hell with all y’all! Just tell me where he is. So’s I can go get him.” “He’ll show you.” Lori says and we all look at her as she adds “Isn’t that right.” Rick nods and says “I’m going back.” I look at him a moment before going to start skinning the squirrels as I wait for him. I then remember that T still had by knife so I look around and I see him on top of the van messing with his arrows. When he sees me coming he jumps off and holds out my knife to me handle first. I take it from him and walk away.

****T’s POV****

I had just gotten back on the top of the truck when Glenn runs past Daryl towards me with my notebook that now had a piece of rope on it making it into a sort of necklace and the words "MUTE, CAN NOT SPEAK" on the cover in big letters. I just stay sitting on the van when Glenn says “Hey, I customized your notebook so you don’t have to carry it and now people will know you don’t speak.” As he waved the thing above his head. I sling my bow and the quiver over my shoulder before I hop off the van. I land next to him and he quickly puts it around my neck and takes off running back to the others before I could hit him. I walk up and stand next to Glenn, smacking the back of his head, just as Shane asks Rick “Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like merle Dixon?” right in front of Daryl who says “Hey, Choose your words more carefully.” “No, I did. Douche bag’s what I meant. Merle Dixon, the guy wouldn’t give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst.” Shane said and at that point I wanted to punch Shane in the face myself when Rick said the words I was thinking “What he would or wouldn’t do doesn’t interest me. I can’t let a man die of thirst, me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That’s no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." “So you and Daryl, that’s your big plan?” Lori asks. Rick turns to look at Glenn and I asking with his face. I nod but Glenn says “Oh, come on.” Rick then convinces Glenn by saying “You know the way. You’ve been there before, in and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It’s not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I’d feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too.” Motioning to Lori. “That’s just great. Now you’re gonna risk four men, huh?” Shane asks but T-Dog says “Five.” At this Daryl huffs and says “My day just gets better and better, don’t it?” T-Dog counters by saying “You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother’s cracker ass?” “Why you?” Daryl asks so T-Dog answers “You wouldn’t even begin to understand. You don’t speak my language.” “That’s five.” Dale says but Shane jumps in and says “It’s not just five. You’re putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They’re moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we’ve got. We need ‘em here. We need ‘em to protect camp.”

Rick finally showing some smarts says “It seems to me what you really need most here…are more guns.” “Right, the guns.” Glenn says before Shane asks “Wait. What guns?” “Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when we got swarmed. It’s just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up.” Rick says so Shane asks “Ammo?” “700 rounds, assorted.” Rick replies. “You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you’re gonna turn around and leave?” Lori says while Carl says “Dad, I don’t want you to go.” “To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He’s not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in. Tell me. Make me understand.” Lori says standing up so Rick walks towards her saying “I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn’t taken me in, I’d have died. It’s because of them and T that I made it back to you at all. They said they’d follow us to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap we did if I don’t warn him.” “What’s stopping you?” she asks so Rick replies “The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He’s got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer.” “These are our walkies?” Shane asks so Rick replies “Yeah…” trailing off. “So use the C.B. What’s wrong with that?” Andrea asks so Shane explains “The C.B.’s fine. It’s the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the ‘70s, don’t match any other bandwidth not even the scanners in our cars.” Lori looks at the ground then back at Rick as he says “I need that bag.” Before walking over and kneeling in front of Carl adding “Okay?” Carl nods so Rick says “All right.” And pats him on the head. I then went with Glenn and Daryl to back up the van. Glenn drove as Daryl and I were in the back. After the van stopped Daryl started pacing back and forth so much that I thought about tripping him but I decide against it and started drawing a picture of Yori to show people when I asked about him, ignoring the conversation going on outside the van. Daryl then honked the horn with his foot and yelled “Come on, let’s go!” As T-Dog is climbing in the van Shane says “Five men, five rounds. What are the odds, huh? Let’s just hope that five is your lucky number, okay?” “God dammit! Stop jinxing me fuckers!’ I yell in my head at them as I glare at them.

After everyone was in the van, T-Dog shut the back as Glenn started driving. A few minutes go by of T-Dog watching me draw before he asks “What are you drawing?” Rick looks back at us and says “I want to know to.” I sigh and flip my half-finished drawing for them to see. Daryl is the first one to speak as he asks “He your brother?” There was a hint of something in his voice that I couldn’t identify so I just nod and T-Dog asks “Where is he?” I look down as Rick says “He doesn’t know for sure. Last he heard he was at the CDC.” “Oh, sorry-“T-Dog start before being cut off by Glenn saying “We’ll find him. Even if we have to walk there.” I was expecting Daryl to say something mean at this as his brother is also missing, well…chained to a roof, so I look up at him but he just looks away from me. We get closer to the city and I’m now half-finished with my drawing of Merle, I figured it would be useful if somehow he wasn’t there anymore, as Daryl looks at T-Dog and says “He better be okay. It’s my only word on the matter.” “I told you the geeks can’t get at him. The only thing that’s gonna get through that door is us.” T-Dog says before Glenn stops the van and says “We walk from here.” So we all get out and start to jog towards the city. When we go through an opening in a fence Rick asks “Merle first, or guns?” I point to Daryl who says “Merle! We ain’t even having this conversation.” As I nod in agreement. “We are. You know the geography. It’s your call.” Rick tells Glenn who says “Merle’s closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first.” We then start jogging again.

*****Time skip*****

We’re in the department store again sticking close together and watching for walkers. Rick’s leading and puts a hand up to stop us then signals for me to take out the walker as my bow is slightly quieter than Daryl’s crossbow. I notch an arrow as I walk in front of him and aim. As Daryl says “Damn. It’s one ugly skank.” I shoot it in the head. I go to get my arrow but Daryl blocks me as a walker comes around the corner and he shoot it in the head. He then nods at me and we go get our arrows and wipe them off, him on his pants me on one of the shirts in the store. We don’t encounter any more walkers as we make our way to the roof. When we get to the top of the stairway T-Dog breaks the lock with bolt cutters and Daryl kicks the door open yelling “Merle! Merle!” as he runs onto the roof but we don’t find Merle only his sawed off hand as Daryl yells “No!” “Well shit.” I write in my notebook and turn it around.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4-F*** You Rick

****Daryl’s POV****

“Well shit.” T wrote in his notebook as I started breathing hard. I yell spinning around to shoot T-Dog but Rick puts gun to my head and somehow T ended up in front of T-Dog and thus in front of my crossbow. “I won’t hesitate. I don’t care if every walker in the city hears it.” Rick says cocking the gun. T’s eyes are locked on mine stirring up that feeling from before back at camp. ‘Shit…’ I think as I lower my crossbow. T goes over to Merle’s hand as Rick lowers his gun. I look at T-Dog and ask “You got a do-rag or something?” He gives me one so I put my crossbow down and go over to T and Merle’s hand. Signing as I bend down and lay the rag on the ground I says “I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs.” Picking up the hand I add “Ain’t that a bitch.” And wrap it up before going and putting it in Glenn’s bag. I start following the blood trail behind T and say “He must have used a tourniquet, maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn’t.” The others follow as Glenn says “Great, two Daryls.” But I ignore him focusing on finding Merle.

Following the trail to an open door to a stairwell we start going down. “Merle! You in here?” I call out, getting no reply I push past T and lead the group. I look through the offices with T for any signs of Merle as the others stay in the hallway. We only find one walker so I shoot it and we join the others in the hallway walking into a large room we find two walkers with their heads bashed in by a wrench that’s on the ground next to them. “Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches. One handed. Toughest asshole I’ve ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he’d crap out nails.” I says as I reload my crossbow and Rick being a smartass says “Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is.”

****T’s POV****

“Merle!” Daryl yells as we are in the doorway of what looks like kitchen. “We’re not alone here. Remember?” Rick asks whispering but Daryl says walking into the kitchen “Screw that. He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself.” “Shh” T-Dog says, ‘Nope, he will not shh! And if you say it again I’ll knock something over!’ I yell at T-Dog in my head as this is the third time he’s said it, more so for me not to knock something over than for him to shut up. We turn a corner and see travel stoves still burning, a belt, bloody rag, metal thing with burnt flesh and blood on it, and blood over almost everything. Rick picks up the metal thing and Glenn asks “What’s that burned stuff?” “Skin. He cauterized the stump.” Rick says looking at Glenn. “Told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle.” Daryl says looking at Rick. I turn around and notice a broken window so I walk over to it as Rick says “Don’t take that on faith. He’s lost a lot of blood.” “Yeah? Didn’t stop him from busting out of this death trap.” Daryl says joining me at the window and sticks his head through it. The others come over as Glenn asks “He left the building? Why the hell would he do that?” Daryl then says what I was thinking “Why wouldn’t he? He’s out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he’s got to do. Surviving.” As he follows me as I walk away from the window. “You call that Surviving? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?” T-Dog asks being a little bit of an ass. “No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks. You couldn’t kill him. Ain’t so worried about some dumb dead bastard.” Daryl says as he gets in Rick’s face “What about 1000 dumb dead bastards? Different story?” Rick asks as I think ‘Stop being a smartass.’ “Why don’t you take a tally? Do what you want. I’m gonna go get him.” Daryl says starting to walk away but Rick pushes him back saying “Daryl, Wait.” ‘Fuck you Rick!’ I yell at him in my head as I have to sidestep quickly so Daryl doesn’t knock into me from being pushed. “Get your hands off me! You can’t stop me.” Daryl yells at Rick so he points at me and says “I don’t blame you. He’s family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel. Hell, T feels what you do right now. Merle can’t get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head.” I’m now glaring at Rick as Daryl looks at me and says “I could do that.”  

Rick ignores me and looks at T-Dog who says “Only if we get those guns first. I’m not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?” We all agree and start to make a plan. Glenn and I draw the buildings and such on the ground after we collected things to represent us and the bag of guns. Daryl is leaning on a desk as Rick stands and T-Dog is sitting down next to Glenn watching us. “You’re not doing this by yourselves.” Rick tells me and Glenn. “Even I think it’s a bad idea and I don’t even like you much.” Daryl says looking at the ground so Glenn says “It’s a good idea, okay. If you just hear me out.” Rick nods and kneels next to Glenn and I as Glenn says “If we go out there in a group, we’re slow, drawing attention. If it’s me and T only, we can move fast. Look.” I place the large paper clip in the street as Glenn adds “That’s the tank, five blocks from where we are now.” I place a wadded up sticky note in front of it to indicate the bag as he says “That’s the bag of guns.” Pointing to alley he says “Here’s the alley I pointed T to and dragged you into when we first met. That’s were T, Daryl, and I will go.” “Why me?” Daryl asks so Glenn answers “Your crossbow is quieter than his gun.” while pointing at Rick. I place the sticky notes in the alley and follow the route we will go with my finger as Glenn says “While Daryl waits here in the alley, T and I run up the street, grab the bag.” “You got us elsewhere?” Rick asks so Glenn nods as I put the eraser in the alley and says “You and T-Dog, right. You’ll be in this alley here.” I smack my forehead and sigh heavily as Rick asks “Two blocks away? Why?” “We may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut us off. If that happens, we won’t go back to Daryl. We’ll go forward instead, all the way around to the alley where you guys are. Whichever direction we go, we got you in both places to cover us. Afterwards, we’ll all meet back here.” Glenn says before adding “Hell, T could do this alone as he’s faster than me but he doesn’t know what all’s in the street leading to the other alley so it would be too dangerous for him to go alone.” “Hey, kids, what’d you do before all this?” Daryl asks us. “I delivered pizzas and T was an art teacher. Why?” Glenn asks as I hadn’t told him I was in the military yet. We don’t get a verbal response just Rick nodding looking at Daryl who nods as well.

I’m first to climb down the ladder and into the alley with Glenn then Daryl. We stop behind dumpster as Glenn and I wait for some walkers to pass by in the street. Daryl readies his crossbow as he says “You got some balls for a china-man and a mute.” “I’m Korean.” Glenn says annoyed looking at me. I shrug as Daryl says “Whatever.” Glenn and I then go to the entrance of the alley and pause looking around. Glenn looks at me and we both nod before taking off to get the bag.

****Daryl’s POV****

Glenn and T had just left when I heard footsteps behind me. I come out from behind the dumpster and aim at a kid who quickly says “Whoa don’t shoot me! What do you want?” “I’m looking for my brother. He’s hurt real bad. You seen him?” I say but he starts yelling “Ayudame!” “Shut up! You’re gonna bring the geeks down on us. Answer me.” I say then stepping closer I add “Answer me.” But he continues to yell “Ayudame! Ayudame! Ayudame!” so I knock him over and go to cover his mouth saying “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.” I finally get my hand over his mouth when I’m kicked in the side and start to get kicked and hit with a baseball bat. One of the guys then says “That’s it! That’s the bag, vato. Take it! Take it!” and run after Glenn and T as they try to get to Rick and T-Dog instead. They grab and punch them down and start to kick them. Glenn’s yelling and trying to get away but T isn’t moving so I shoot one of the guys in the ass as I’m beyond pissed at this point. He starts yelling and the other grabs Glenn who starts yelling “Get off me!” A car pulls up and a guy gets out and grabs T as the others are pulling Glenn to the car who’s yelling “Daryl! Daryl!” I aim my crossbow but they use them as a shield even though T is knocked out. I start running at them as they get in the car and drive off yelling “Come back here! You sumbitches!” But I have to close the gate as the walkers are now there. I yell as I run at the kid and push him into a wall just as Rick and T-Dog come running up the alley. “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Stop it!” Rick yells pushing me away from the kid so I yell “I’m gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!” “Let me go.” The kid yells so T-Dog tells him “Chill out.” “They fucking took Glenn and _T_! That little bastard and his little bastard homie friends! I’m gonna stomp your ass!” I yell as Rick holds me back. “Guys! Guys! We’re cut off!” T-Dog yells so Rick says “Get to the Lab. Go.” Before getting the stupid bag of guns. He pauses so I say “Come on. Damn, let’s go.” He grabs the hat Glenn was carrying and we all start running back.

****Time skip****

When we get back to the lab and I start pacing trying to figure out why I was so pissed off that they took Glenn and T. “Those men you were with, we need to know where they went.” Rick tells the kid but he says “I ain’t telling you nothing.” “Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?” T-Dog asks causing me to yell “I told you, this little turd and his douchebag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me.” “You’re the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it’s my damn fault.” The kid accuses. “They took Glenn and _T_. Could have taken Merle too.” I say before wondering why I said T’s name the way I did. But the kid knocks me out of thinking by saying “Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn’t name my dog Merle. Or _T_ for that matter.” Copying the way I had said it. I go to kick him but Rick stops me as he says “Damn it, Daryl. Back off.” ‘Why am I more pissed off at what he said about T than Merle?’ I think as I go over to Glenn’s bag and T’s bow and arrows. I avoid looking at the bow as I get Merle’s hand out of Glenn’s bag  and start unwrapping it asking the kid “Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?” before throwing it on him. He screams and jumps out of the chair so I get in his face grabbing him by the shoulders saying “Start with the feet this time.” Rick pulls me off him and says “The men you were with took our friends. All we want to do is talk to them see if we can work something out.” The kid then tells us were they are and all I can think about as we go there is T’s unconscious body being used as a shield and being pulled into that car.

****Rick’s POV****

As Daryl paces I tell the kid “Those men you were with, we need to know where they went.” “I ain’t telling you nothing.” He replies so T-Dog asks “Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?” “I told you, this little turd and his douchebag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me.” Daryl yells so the kid accuses him “You’re the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it’s my damn fault.” “They took Glenn and _T_. Could have taken Merle too.” Daryl says and I look at him wondering if he knows he put an emphases on T’s name for the second time. “Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn’t name my dog Merle. Or _T_ for that matter.” The kid says coping the way Daryl said T. Daryl then goes to kick him but I stop him saying “Damn it, Daryl. Back off.” Daryl then goes over to Glenn’s bag and T’s bow and arrows. I watch him as he avoids looking at the bow, gets Merle’s hand out of Glenn’s bag, and start unwrapping it asking the kid “Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?” before throwing it on him. He screams and jumps out of the chair and Daryl gets in his face grabbing him by the shoulders saying “Start with the feet this time.” I pull him off and tell the kid “The men you were with took our friends. All we want to do is talk to them see if we can work something out.” The kid then tells us were they are and I think of reasons why Daryl would put an emphases on T’s name and get upset when the kid did the same as we go to get T and Glenn. Though I come to a conclusion very quickly.

****Time skip to retirement home****

We get to the place and I look around corner and ask T-Dog “You sure you’re up for this?” as he’s going to be our cover. “Yeah.” He says while nodding so I say “Okay.” As T-Dog goes to roof Daryl looks at the kid and says “One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass…just so you know.” “G’s gonna take the arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours. Just so you know.” The kid says looking at him. I look at the kid and ask “G?” “Guillemo. He’s the man here.” He answers. “Okay then.”  I say looking at Daryl and cocking my gun before adding “Let’s go see Guillemo.” We then all go through the hole and walk towards large wood doors. We stand there a bit with our weapons trained on it when a guy I assume to be Guillemo walks towards us. He stops and asks “You okay, little man?” “They’re gonna cut off my feet, carnal.” The kid says causing him to ask “Cops do that?” “Not him. This redneck puto here. He cut off some dude’s hand, man. He showed it to me.” The kid says and Daryl tells him to “Shut up.” “Hey that’s that vato right there, homes. He shot me in the ass with an arrow. What’s up, homes, huh?” A guy with a gun pointed at Daryl says as he walks towards us. Guillemo pushes it down saying “Chill, ese, chill. Chill. This true? He wants Miguelito’s feet? That’s pretty sick, man.” “We were hoping more for a calm discussion.” I say. “That hillbilly jumps Felipe’s cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet. Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion? You fascinate me.” Guillemo says so I counter with “Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made on both sides.” “Who’re those dudes to you anyway? You don’t look related.” Guillemo asks. “They’re one of our group, more or less. I’m sure you have a few like them.” I say before Daryl asks “You got my brother in there?”

“Sorry, we’re fresh out of white boys. But I’ve got Asian and a pretty boy with a bad bump on the head. You interested?” Guillemo asks. Daryl looks ready to tare Guillemo’s head off with his bare hands so I say “I have one of yours who’s not hurt, you have two of mine one of who’s hurt. Sounds like an even trade.” “Don’t sound even to me.” He counters causing the kid to beg “G? Come on, man.” “My people got attacked. Where’s the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where’s my bag of guns?” Guillemo says so I ask “Guns?” “The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns.” He answers so I state “You’re mistaken.” “I don’t think so.” He counters so I counter back “About it being yours. It’s my bag of guns.” “The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I’m supposed to take your word? What’s to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what’s mine?” He counters again so I say “You could do that.” Then look at T-Dog and add “Or not.” Guillemo pauses and looks at T-Dog, a minute later he yells “OYE!” looking up at the roof. Three guys bring Glenn and T into view, the bags over their heads are ripped off and they have duct tape over their mouths, Glenn is looking at us hopeful but T is visibly pissed off. “I see two options. You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we’ll see which side spills more blood.” Guillemo says before looking at T-Dog then at me then his group starts to go back so we go back to the lab.

****T’s POV****

Glenn and I are taken to the roof by three guys with bags over our heads and duct tape over our mouths, though it’s just for show in my case. I’m beyond pissed off at these dumbasses now, and really want to kick at least one off the roof. First they give me a killer headache and now put a bag over my head and drag me to the roof. The bags are ripped off our heads and I see Daryl, Rick, and the dumbasses. Glenn is whimpering beside me as I’m glaring at leader guy, the stupid who didn’t listen to Glenn. I look closer at Daryl and see that he’s staring at us and looks ready to rip someone’s head off with his bare hands if he had too ‘Does he think they have his brother too?’ I ask myself but then we’re pulled back and we get the bags over our heads again.

****Time skip****

I’m playing a game of chess with one of the oldies when Mr. Gilbert starts having an asthma attack. I go over and get him to copy me while the nurse’s grandmother goes to get him. I’m breathing deeply through my nose nodding six times before letting it out slowly, calming Mr. Gilbert so he doesn’t panic and make the attack worse, as nurse boy comes in with Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog in tow. “What the hell is this?” Rick asks so Glenn answers “An asthma attack. Couldn’t get his breath all of a sudden.” “I thought you guys were being eaten by dogs, man.” T-Dog says at this they look at me as the Chihuahuas are sitting next to me, the fluffy one barks at them so I pick him up. “Could I have a word with you?” Rick asks leader guy as nurse boy tells me “Thanks for keeping him from panicking.” I nod as Rick and leader guy walk a few feet away from the group. “What are you a dog whisperer?” T-Dog asks as I put “Fluffy” down, point to the dog bed, and they go lay down. I shrug and Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, and Glenn follow leader guy into a room as I stay where I was, not wanting to listen to the “cop” conversation he is sure to have with leader guy. A minute or so later they come back and Rick tells me “Time to go.” I nod and follow them as we make our way back to get Glenn’s bag and my bow.

****Time skip****

We’re almost back to the van when Glenn says “Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat.” “Don’t tell anybody.” Rick says. “You’ve given away half our guns and ammo.” Daryl says and I frown as this is new information for me. “Not nearly half.” Rick says looking at me. “For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?” Daryl asks. “How long do any of us?” Rick asks before everyone stops and looks at where the van should be. “Oh my god.” Glenn says as my frown deepens. “Where the hell’s our van?” Daryl asks so Glenn asks “We left it right there. Who would take it?” “Merle.” Rick says. Daryl then looks at Rick and says “He’s gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp.” Rick then looks at me and asks “There time to find a car and hot wire it?” I shake my head and start running. They follow my lead and start running as well.

****Time skip till dark****

            Screams and gun shots were all I needed for me to push my limits and sprint the rest of the way to the camp leaving the others in the dust. I show up just as Amy gets bit on her neck and I quickly close the distance and tackle it off her and stab it in the head with one of my arrows. I quickly stand up and start shooting the walkers going after Andrea as she tries to help Amy. The others in camp are making their way to the R.V. The walkers are dwindling and I’m running out of arrows as Rick and them show up with Rick yelling “Baby! Carl!” Carl runs to him just as we take down the rest of the walkers. Everyone is panting and I turn and drop down next to Andrea putting my hands on hers adding presser as she cries “I don’t know what to do, Amy.” A few seconds later Amy dies and Andrea starts to wail “Amy!” and I scoot back and look at the night sky apologizing to Amy in my head before everything goes black.

 


	5. Hope Lost

****Daryl’s POV****

            When we heard the screams and gun shots coming from camp T took off and was out of sight in seconds. We pick up the pace ourselves and start shooting when we make it to camp. I see T in front of Andrea and Amy shooting walkers that come near with his bow. His face was expressionless as he shoots walker after walker and I make my way towards him as he’s running out of arrows. As I finish beating one’s face in I see him turn and drop down next to Andrea putting his hands on hers adding presser to Amy’s neck. A few seconds later Amy’s hand drops from Andrea’s face as she dies. Andrea starts to wail as T scoots back away from them and looks at the night sky. He closes his eyes and as he falls my feet move on their own and I catch him. ‘He pushed himself too hard.’ I think as Rick runs up and takes him from me saying what I was thinking “He pushed himself too hard and passed out.” As Glenn runs over worry clear on his face. “So even T can be stupid sometimes.” He says laughing half-heartedly and I knew that he was thinking ‘He’ll probably do it again.’ I stand to start making sure our fallen didn’t come back when Rick says “Daryl can you please take T back to his and Glenn’s tent.”

****Rick’s POV****

            ‘I don’t think Daryl realizes how he acts around T. Hell, I doubt he knows how he looks at her. Though she doesn’t seem to notice either.’ I think walking up to him as he holds her after she passed out. I take her from him and say “He pushed himself too hard and passed out.” As Glenn runs over worry for his friend clear on his face. “So even T can be stupid sometimes.” He says laughing half-heartedly as him and Daryl shared the same look on their face. Daryl sighs quietly and stands up and a thought pops in my head ‘I should push them together.’ So I say “Daryl can you please take T back to his and Glenn’s tent.” Daryl stiffens but Glenn picking up on what I’m doing says quietly “Rick might drop him….” And trails off as Daryl then quickly takes T from me and stalks off towards the tent with Glenn in tow. Lori comes up and says quietly “I saw that.” “I don’t know what you mean.” I say and she shakes her head at me as I think ‘Apparently the only two who don’t see how T and Daryl act around and look at each other is each other. They need more help than I thought.’

****T’s POV****

            _“Tia, I’ve been called back.” Yori says suddenly as we’re eating dinner. I slam my hands on the table and stand up and stare at him. “I’m sure you’ve heard about that disease. They want me to help in the CDC. But not just for my military training also so I can save a spot for us there if things get bad.” He tells me causing me to sign angrily “That’s still not fare. You fought for the country already. You even lost a leg for it.” “They know that…that’s why I’m being placed at the CDC.” He says looking at the table before saying “Look, if things get bad we’ll have a safe place to be if I do this. So…I’m doing it. I already agreed.” I run to him and hug him as I cry softly feeling I’ll never see him again. “If things get bad go with Jenny, Morgan, and Duane to Atlanta. They have a spot too I made sure of it.” He says stroking my head. I look at him and nod so he says “We’ll see each other again. We’re big brother and little sister, it’s my job to look after you.” But he disappears and I look around. I’m no longer in our kitchen but in the woods a branch snaps behind me so I whip around. Standing there is Yori but he’s no longer my brother but a walker. I step back but trip and fall onto something soft, wet, and sticky. I turn over and see I’ve fallen onto the remains of those in the group. I open my mouth to scream but nothing comes out as my neck starts to bleed from the cut a few years ago. I stand up holding it and back right into Yori who growls and chomps down on my shoulder._

I bolt up sweating and rub my neck as I still feel the cut opening back up in the dream. I look around and realize I’m in Glenn and I’s tent and that it’s already morning. I fix my hat and shove my hair back under it before crawling out of the tent. I stretch and look around. Daryl is pick-axing those who died head’s, Andrea is morning the loss of Amy next to her, Lori is walking away from her, Rick is walking back from the hill and over to Carol, Shane, Dale and now Lori who are sitting around the cooking station watching Andrea, and Glenn, Jim, Jacqui, Morales, and T-Dog are moving the bodies either into a fire or in a row of others. Rick starts to walk over to Andrea after talking with the others about something so I follow not really liking the look on his face. It was one of pity that’s the last thing Andrea wants to see. Rick goes to sit down and using his cop voice says “Andrea.” She points her gun at him and says “I know how the safety works.” Staring at him, he nods saying “Alright. Okay. I’m sorry.” Slowly backing up with his hand up “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” he says putting his hand down and continues to back up. She slowly turns the gun to me so I just stare at her and step forward putting my hands on hers and squeeze it softly as I look at Amy. Andrea nods at me so I kneel down next to her as she looks back at Amy. I put my hand on one of Amy’s and close my eyes telling her in my head ‘I know I didn’t know you that well but you didn’t deserve to die.’ I look at Andrea as she gives me a quiet “Thank you.” I nod and go over to Rick, Carol, Lori, Dale, and Shane the same time as Daryl is and saying “Y’all can’t be serious. Let that girl hamstring us? That dead girl’s a time bomb.” I glare at Daryl as Rick asks “What do you suggest?” Stepping forward Daryl says “Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance.” I’m pissed and about to hit Daryl when Lori says “No. For God’s sakes, let her be.” Sitting down. Rick looks at Shane who nods then at Daryl with his “no” face on. Daryl then looks at all of us but avoids me, scoffs and walks away.

            I rub my neck as I follow him remembering my dream, for some reason. “Wake up, Jimbo. We’ve got some work to do.” Daryl says passing Jim who doesn’t look the best. I chalk it up to the heat as I’m sure I don’t look the best either. ‘It’s days like this that I wish they knew I was a girl so I could take my hoodie and hat off.’ I think as Daryl goes to help Morales drag a body. Morales says “Thanks.” And they start to drag the body to the fire when Glenn says “What are you guys doing? This is for geeks. Our people go over there.” Pointing to the other group of bodies. “What’s the difference? They’re all infected.” Daryl says so I go over and push him away and get in his face as Glenn says “Our people go in that row over there. We don’t burn them! We bury them. Understand?” Daryl slowly looks between Glenn and I, so Glenn says pointing “Our people go in that row over there.” Morales, Daryl, and I then drag the body to the row as Daryl says “You reap what you sow.” Before letting go. “You know what? Shut up, man.” Morales says as we set down the body as Daryl walks away saying “Y’all left my brother for dead.” Pauses and points at Andrea adding “You had this coming.”  Before walking away and picking up the pick-axe again. Jim and Jacqui goes to pick up one of the bodies when she asks “Are you bleeding?” “I just got some on me from the bodies.” He says as I think ‘This isn’t good.’ and he goes to pick up the body. Jacqui quickly says “That blood is fresh. Were you bit?” “No. I got scratched during the attack.” He says causing her to stand up and say “You got bit.” “I’m fine.” He says so she demands “Then show me.” He looks at her and stands up and whispers to her but she quickly yells “A walker got him. A walker bit Jim.” Backing away. Everyone is paying attention to Jim now and is basically circling him as he says “I’m okay. I’m okay.” “Show it to us.” Daryl orders pointing at Jim walking forward and says again “Show it to us.” Jim starts panicking turns and grabs a shovel as Shane says “Easy, Jim.” And Daryl says “Grab him.” As T-Dog goes behind Jim. “Jim, put it down. Put it down.” Shane orders but T-Dog rushes forward and grabs Jim as he says “I’m okay. I’m okay.” Daryl rushes forward and pulls up Jim’s shirt revealing a bite as Jim continues saying he’s okay. Daryl drops the shirt and backs away and T-Dog lets go of Jim and backs away as well. Everyone stares at him as Jim starts breathing heavy. Daryl slowly picks up the pick-axe so I go over to Jim and stand next to him while glaring at Daryl.

****Daryl’s POV****

            I slowly pick up the pick-axe to kill Jim after we find out he got bit but T walks over to him, stands next to him, and glares at me. He’s been annoying me ever since he woke up as the first thing he does is go over to Andrea and the time bomb that used to be Amy, then he agrees with Lori, then he pushes me and gets in my face as Glenn yells at me, and now he’s siding with Jim. The rest of us huddle up as T sits with Jim near the R.V. “I say we put a pick-axe in his head and the dead girl’s and be done with it.” I say causing Shane to quickly ask “Is that what you’d want if it were you?” “Yeah, and I’d thank you while you did it.” I answer so Dale says “I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl’s right.” “Jim’s not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog.” Rick says. “I’m not suggesting-“Dale starts but is cut off by Rick saying “He’s sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?” “The line’s pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be.” I say so Rick says “What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure.” “I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell.” Shane says causing Rick to say “What if the CDC is still up and running? T’s brother is there, he’ll help us.” ‘I forgot about that.’ I think looking at T as he’s now walking towards us. “Man, that is a stretch right there.” Shane says. “Why? If there’s any government left, any structure at all, they’d protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn’t they? I think it’s our best shot. Shelter, protection-” Rick says but is cut off by Shane saying “Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they’re at the army base. Fort Benning.” “That’s 100 miles in the opposite direction.” Lori says but Shane quickly says “That is right. But it’s away from the hot zone. Now listen to me if that place is operational, it’ll be heavily armed. We’d be safe there.” “So we don’t even go see if T’s brother is there? Besides the military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We’ve all seen that. The CDC is our best choice and Jim’s only chance. Besides we owe it to T to at least take him there.” Rick counters and I look at Jim before looking at Rick and say “You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do.” Turning and going towards Jim I add “Someone need to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!” But I get tackled by T before I can raise the axe. He’s pinning my arms above my head as Rick says “We don’t kill the living.” Pointing a gun at my head. “That’s funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head.” I say looking at him. “We may disagree on some things, not on this. Let it go.” Shane says. “Fine.” I say looking T in the eyes but he seems to be lost in thought. Rick lowers his gun as Shane picks up the pick-axe. Rick then goes over to Jim and says “Come with me.” “Where are you taking me?” he asks as they start to walk away “Somewhere safe.” Rick answers as they continue walking away with the others following them.

I’m now stuck with T still sitting on my chest and holding my arms above my head and that fucking feeling, that’s there anytime I see, am near, or even think of him starting to get stronger. He slowly lets go of my arms, sits up still sitting on my chest, and rubs his neck. I then see the scar and rip the bandana off his neck and quickly grab his arms as he tries to cover it. He glares at me so I ask quietly “What happened?” not knowing why I wanted to know so badly. He shakes his head and looks away from me. “You’re not the only one with scars.” I say letting go of his arms and his head whips towards me as he stares into my eyes probably trying to see if I’m lying. It’s only then that I notice exactly how light he his, so I sit up catching him off guard as he falls back. I quickly pin him down with one hand holding his arms above his head and my legs between his. He’s struggling as I start to lift his hoodie up. I’m so shocked at how may scars are on his stomach that I loosened my grip on his arms. He took the chance and quickly punches me in the jaw knocking me over and takes off. “Fuck!” I say standing up and rubbing my jaw.

*****Time skip****

            I’m pick-axing head’s again, pissed off as any time I go near T he walks off ignoring me and that the others are looking at him in pity after they notice the scar on his neck, but Carol comes over when I get to Ed so I stop and look at her. “I’ll do it. He’s my husband.” She says so I hand her the pick-axe and watch as she axe’s him in the head four times crying as she does so.

****T’s POV****

            ‘Fuck you Daryl! That was my only bandana!’ I yell at him in my head anytime I see him, walk off any time he starts to come near me, and ignore him. I know it petty but he pissed me off, not only did he pin me down I liked that bandana and he ripped it. I’m watching Andrea as Amy begins to reanimate. As Amy sits up Rick and Shane start to walk over but Andrea shoots Amy in the head re-killing her. I go over to her and put a hand on her shoulder silently asking if she needs my help. She looks up at me and nods so I go and get one of the sheets for the bodies and some of the rope as she stays with Amy. We wrap her up and put her with the other bodies in the back of Daryl’s truck. Amy’s the last one so Daryl starts backing up the path with the rest of us walking up it.

We arrive when Daryl says “The Chinaman gets all emotional, says it’s not the thing to do, we just follow him along? These people need to know who the hell’s in charge here, what the rules are.” “There are no rules.” Rick says causing me to think ‘Really Rick there are no rules? What about we don’t kill the living. That sounds like a rule to me.’ As Lori says “Well, that’s a problem. We haven’t had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It’s what people do.” We start putting the bodies in the graves. When it comes to Amy, Andrea is adamant about only her and I putting her in the grave but Dale keeps trying to help us only for Andrea to say “I can do it. I can do it.” Apparently I don’t count as an outsider to her pain in her broken state like the others. Dale ends up helping put Amy’s feet in the grave as Andrea is working on getting out from under her head. When she does Dale and I offer her our hands, she takes them so we pull her out.

****Time skip****

            We’re all sitting around waiting for Rick, Shane, and Dale to come back from their sweep and decide what we’re going to do. They come back and Shane says “I’ve uh…I’ve been thinking about Rick’s plan. Now look, there are no, there are no guarantees either way. I’ll be the first one to admit that. I’ve known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?”

****Time skip to morning****

            We’re loading up the cars and deciding who rides with who: Rick, Lori, Carl, Carol, and Sophia in Carol’s Jeep, Glenn, Dale, Jim, and Jacqui in the RV, T-Dog and Andrea in T-Dogs van, Daryl in his truck, Shane in his Jeep, with me undecided. I figure this is because they don’t know what to say to me if we find the CDC overrun. I stand a little bit away from the group as Shane says “Those of you with CBs, we’re gonna be on channel 40. Let’s keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don’t have a CB, can’t get a signal or anything at all, you’re gonna hit your horn one time. That’ll stop the caravan. Any questions?” That’s when Morales says “We’re, uh….we’re not going.” Everyone looks at the family in shock but Miranda says “We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people.” Shane being a dick says “You go on your own, you won’t have anyone to watch your back.” As I think ‘And you will? All you care about is yourself and Rick’s family but not Rick or anyone else for that matter.’ “We’ll take the chance. I got to do what’s best for my family.” Morales says as Rick asks “You sure?” “We talked about it. We’re sure.” Morales answers as Shane looks at Rick. “Alright.” Rick says looking at Shane and adds “Shane.” They bend down next to the bag of guns and ammo and go through it Shane saying “Yeah, all right. .357?” “Yeah.” Rick says say they stand up. They then walk over to Morales and his family. Rick gives him the gun while Shane gives him a box of ammo saying “The box is half full.”

Daryl scoffs and Lori goes over to the family as Miranda say “Thank you all…for everything.” Lori gives her a hug, Morales and Shane shake hands as Shane says “Good luck, man.” “Appreciate it.” Morales says. “Yeah.” Shane says as Lori kisses the top of the kids’ heads, as they say their goodbyes. Eliza and Sophia hug both of them crying when Eliza gives Sophia her doll. “Channel 40 if you change your minds. All right?” Rick says “Yeah.” Morales says before looking at me and adds “I hope you find your brother.” I nod and he and his family go to their car as Shane asks Rick “What makes you think our odds are any better?” before adding “Come on. Let’s go. Let’s move out.” As everyone is going to the cars Shane says “T you could ride with me. I have room.” Not really wanting to be near Shane that long I shake my head and follow Daryl to his truck. We get in and we start to head out.

****Daryl’s POV****

            As everyone is going to their cars Shane says “T you could ride with me. I have room.” I see T shakes his head as I pass him to get to my truck. I open the driver side door and I notice T opens the passenger side door. I don’t object as I see how Shane looks at him like he looks at Lori, and that pissed me off for some reason. We ride in silence, though that’s to be expected when there’s only two people in the car and one’s a mute.

We just passed a small town when the R.V. started smoking we all pull over and get out to see what’s wrong. As Rick and Dale look at it Dale says “I told you we’d never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van.” “Can you jury-rig it?” Rick asks so Dale answers “That’s all it’s been so far. It’s more duct tape than hose. And I’m out of duct tape.” “I see something up ahead. A gas station if we’re lucky.” Shane says looking at Rick. Just then Jacqui comes out of the R.V. and says “Y’all, Jim, it’s bad. I don’t think he can take anymore.” Before going next to the R.V. T turns and goes into the R.V. “Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I’ll drive ahead, see what I can bring back.” Shane says. “Yeah, I’ll come along too and I’ll back you up.” T-Dog says as I look into the R.V. at Jim and T. T’s standing way from Jim and Jacqui, shakes his head, turns around and walks towards me. We leave as Rick goes in and Shane and T-Dog leave. T’s starts pacing, a look of guilt on his face, as we wait for Rick to come out of the R.V. and Shane and T-Dog to come back.

            When they do we huddle and Rick says “He told me to leave him here. It’s what he says he want.” “And he’s lucid?” Carol asks. “He seems to be. I would say yes.” He answers as T nods. “Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer. “Dale says so Shane says “We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I’m not sure I could live with that.” “It’s not your call, either one of you. “Lori says. Shane and Rick looks at each other and nod. They go in the R.V. and bring Jim out and lean him against a tree.

****T’s POV****

            ‘Jim told Rick he wants to be left here. Is it because I said he didn’t have long when he asked? I wasn’t lying though…the fever’s about to kill him.’ I think pacing blaming myself for Jim as Rick and Shane lean him against a tree. We all slowly gather around Jim and he says “Hey, another damn tree.” And chuckles. “Hey, Jim…I mean, you know it doesn’t need to be this.” Shane says causing Jim to answer “No. It’s good. The breeze feels nice.” “Okay. All right.” Shane says stepping away from Jim. Jacqui is the first to go to him and says “Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don’t fight.” Kissing him on the cheek before walking away. Rick is next and asks “Jim, do you want this?” holding a gun. “No. You’ll need it. I’m okay. I’m okay.” Jim says so Rick walks away. Dale is next and he tells Jim “Thank for, uh, for fighting for us.” As he walks away the others but me and Daryl walk away as well. Jim nods and Daryl and I walk towards him. Daryl nods and walks away as I stand there. “It’s not your fault.” Jim says so I kneel next to him “Stay with Daryl. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Even without knowing the real you. He’ll protect you.” He says looking at me. I shake my head not believing him, the fever surely making him delirious now, but he says “Trust me, I know…You look at him the same way. It’s something that only happens once. Embrace it.” I nod and he smiles at me so I jog back to Daryl’s truck as the others start going to their cars. He’s leaning against it watching me, he then pushes off it when I get closer and goes to the driver’s side and gets in. As I get in he looks at me so I give him a small smile then look forward. We then start moving again.

****Time skip****

            We arrive at the CDC and there’s dead bodies everywhere. I feel like I’m about to break down feeling that Yori was gone. We slowly start moving past them and I’m looking at every one hoping not to see Yori. “All right, everybody. Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let’s go.” Shane whispers as we approach the building. Daryl is sticking close to me and keeps glancing at me as we go. “Keep moving. Stay together. Keep moving. Come on.” Rick says leading us so Shane says “Shh.” We get to the building and Rick rattles the door as I look around for a key pad. “Nothing?” Shane asks as Rick and him try to get the door open.  I see a camera so I stand under it looking at it as Shane pounds on the door. “There’s nobody here.” T-Dog says causing Rick to ask “Then why are these shutters down?” “Walkers!” Daryl yells and everyone turns around. Daryl shoots the soldier walker and yells “You led us into a graveyard!” walking towards Rick. “He made a call.” Dale says. “It was the wrong damn call!” Daryl yells so I look at the ground thinking ‘It’s my fault.’ That’s when I see them, my dog tags that I gave Yori before he left, when Shane tells Daryl “Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up! Rick, this is a dead end.” I feel the tears threatening to fall as sink to the ground in front of them and slowly pick them up when Carol asks “Where are we gonna go?” Shane walking towards and Rick says “Do you hear me? No blame.” Pointing at him. “She’s right. We can’t be here, this close to the city after dark.” Lori says. Rick looks back at the doors as Shane says “Fort Benning, Rick, still an option.” “On what? No food, no fuel. That’s 100 miles.” Andrea says so Glenn says “125. I checked the map.” “Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now.” Lori says angry. “We’ll, think of something.” Rick says trying to calm her down. Daryl pulls me up and starts dragging me as the others start to back to the cars. “The camera, it moved.” Rick says causing Dale to say “You imagined it.” “It moved.” He says walking towards it. I try to go as well but Daryl holds me tightly as he watches for more walkers. Rick bangs on the door as Lori yells “Rick, there’s nobody here!” “I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me.” Rick says at the camera as Shane yells “Get back to the cars now!” “Please, we’re desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left.” Rick pleads to the camera as Lori runs over to him and tries to get him to give up. “If you don’t let us in, you’re killing us! Please!” Rick yells as Shane grabs him and starts dragging him away saying “Come on, buddy, let’s go.” As Rick keeps yelling “Please help us. You’re killing us! You’re killing us!” Shane pushes Rick forward just as the door opens.

 


	6. He's a Good Man, Your Brother

****Daryl’s POV****

            We get to the CDC but there’s dead bodies everywhere. I look at T, his face isn’t hopeful, and it was then that I realize that I actually care about him and what happens to him. We slowly start moving past them and he looks at every one of them looking for his brother. “All right, everybody. Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let’s go.” Shane whispers as we approach the building. I stick close to T and keep glancing at him as we go. ‘He looks like he’s about to break down.’ I think as Rick says “Keep moving. Stay together. Keep moving. Come on.” leading us. “Shh.” Shane says. We get to the building and Rick rattles the door as T looks around. “Nothing?” Shane asks as Rick and him try to get the door open. T then looks at a camera while standing under it as Shane pounds on the door. “There’s nobody here.” T-Dog says. I glare at T-Dog as Rick asks “Then why are these shutters down?” “Walkers!” I yell seeing some of the bodies start to get up and everyone turns around. I shoot a soldier walker and yell “You led us into a graveyard!” walking towards Rick causing Dale to say “He made a call.” “It was the wrong damn call!” I yell and T looks at the ground and I mentally kick myself at the obvious guilt that washes over his face. Seeing the dog tags on the ground T goes rigid as Shane tells me “Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!” Before adding “Rick, this is a dead end.” T sinks to the ground and slowly picks up some dog tags when Carol asks “Where are we gonna go?” Shane walking towards Rick says “Do you hear me? No blame.” Pointing at him. “She’s right. We can’t be here, this close to the city after dark.” Lori says as I go and stand next to T so I could grab him and pull him back to the cars when needed. As at this point I doubt he’d move on his own. Rick looks back at the doors as Shane says “Fort Benning, Rick, still an option.” “On what? No food, no fuel. That’s 100 miles.” Andrea says so Glenn says “125. I checked the map.” “Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now.” Lori says angry. “We’ll, think of something.” Rick says trying to calm her down. I then pull T up and start dragging him with me as the others start to go back to the cars. “The camera, it moved.” Rick says causing Dale to tell him “You imagined it.” “It moved.” He says walking towards it. T tries to go as well but I hold him tightly to me as I watch the walkers coming slowly. Rick bangs on the door as Lori yells “Rick, there’s nobody here!” “I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me.” Rick says at the camera as Shane yells “Get back to the cars now!” So I start dragging T again. “Please, we’re desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left.” Rick pleads to the camera as Lori runs over to him and tries to get him to give up. “If you don’t let us in, you’re killing us! Please!” Rick yells as Shane grabs him and starts dragging him away saying “Come on, buddy, let’s go.” As Rick keeps yelling “Please help us. You’re killing us! You’re killing us!” Shane pushes Rick forward just as the door opens.

            We stand there for a few seconds just staring at it till Shane tells me “Daryl, you cover the back.” As we start to move into the building, me dragging T in. “Hello?” Rick calls as Shane says “Close those doors. Watch for walkers.” Everyone is looking around but T, he’s staring at the dog tags in his hands. “Hello?” Rick calls again when a gun cocks in front of us we aim our weapons in that direction and there is a guy there who asks “Anybody infected?” “One of our group was. He didn’t make it.” Rick says so the guy comes down the stairs asking “Why are you here? What do you want?” “A chance.” Rick says so as he walks forward the guy states “That’s asking an awful lot these days.” “I know.” Rick says and the guy looks at us his eyes landing on T and says “You all submit to a blood test. That’s the price of admission.” “We can do that.” Rick says so the guy lowers his gun and says “You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed.”  Rick, Glenn, Shane, and I then run and get the bags. I get mine and T’s as the others get theirs and the others. T-Dog and Dale close the doors behind us and the guy slides a card in a key pad as the light turned green he says “Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here.” The door closes and Rick introduces himself and the guy looks at him and says “Dr. Edward Jenner.” We all pile in an elevator, T is squeezed between Glenn and I and is still deep in thought. So I ask “Doctors always go around packing heat like that?” Trying to forget how close T is to me. “There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself.” Jenner says looking at T then at the others before adding “But you look harmless enough. Except you. I’ll have to keep my eye on you.” Looking at Carl who smiles. The elevator stops and we follow Jenner down a hallway, T and I in the back. ‘Where’s his brother? If he’s not here?’ I ask myself watching T walk in front of me when Carol asks “Are we underground?” “Are you claustrophobic?” Jenner asks so she answers “A little.” “Try not to think about it.” He says picking up his pace.

            As we walk into a big room Jenner says “Vi, bring up the lights in the big room.” The lights come on so he adds “Welcome to zone 5.” “Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff, T’s brother Yori?” Rick asks so Jenner stops and turns to us and says “I’m it. It’s just me here.” At this T stops walking and looks at the ground, Jenner looking at him says “Your brother left just a few days ago.” At this T whipped his head up to look at him so he adds “He said he was going to your guys’ cabin as you probably headed there instead of here when the power went out. Asked me to tell you that just in case you showed up and that he left something of yours here as a clue for you if you didn’t want in.” T looks relieved to hear there was a chance his brother was still alive but Jenner looked like he was hiding something from him. I go to ask what he was hiding but Lori asked “What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?” “Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them…welcome.” Jenner says and a computer voice says “Hello, guests. Welcome.” “I’m all that’s left.” Jenner says looking at Rick before adding “I’m sorry.”

****T’s POV****

            Walking into the big room Jenner says “Vi, bring up the lights in the big room.” The lights come on so he adds “Welcome to zone 5.” Rick then asks Jenner what I was debating on whether or not to ask him “Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff, T’s brother Yori?” I look at Jenner as he stops walking turns to us and says “I’m it. It’s just me here.” I stop walking and look down then Jenner says “Your brother left just a few days ago.” I whip my head up and look at him so he adds “He said he was going to your guys’ cabin as you probably headed there instead of here when the power went out. Asked me to tell you that just in case you showed up and that he left something of yours here as a clue for you if you didn’t want in.” I’m relieved but can’t believe my brother was so stupid. ‘If he waited just a few more days we would have been reunited. Not only that he put the clue on the ground to where I came to the conclusion that he died.’ I think to myself. I look at Daryl and he looks like he's about to say something but Lori asked “What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?” “Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them…welcome.” Jenner says and a computer voice says “Hello, guests. Welcome.” “I’m all that’s left.” Jenner says looking at Rick before adding “I’m sorry.”

****Time skip****

            Andrea was last to get her blood drawn and says “What’s the point? If we were infected, we’d all be running a fever.” “I’ve already broken every rule in the book letting you all in here. T’s the only one that doesn’t violate them by being here so let me just be thorough.” Jenner says before adding “All done.” Andrea gets up but she pauses and Jenner asks “Are you okay?” she nods as Jacqui says “She hasn’t eaten in days. None of us have.” Jenner looks shocked and says “Follow me.” He leads us all into a kitchen area.

****Time skip****

            Everyone was laughing as we ate dinner and drank some wine. Daryl is drinking straight from a bottle himself at least Glenn and I were sharing, ‘He’s gonna get a major hangover.’ I think watching Daryl take another big drink. “You know in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner.” Dale says handing Lori her now filled glass and adds “And in France.” “Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some them.” She says but Rick says “What’s if gonna hurt? Come on. Come on.” Lori gives in and Dale gives Carl some saying “There you are, young lad.” Carl takes a sip and says “Eww.” And the others laugh as Lori says “That’s my boy.” And pours the wine in her glass as Shane says “Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud.” “Not you, Glenn. Or you T.” Daryl say looking at Glenn and I who are sitting on the counter. “What?” Glenn asks so Daryl says “Keep drinking, little guys. I want to see how your face’s can get.” The guys then start laughing and Rick looks at Jenner who’s just watching us silently. Rick clinks his glass standing up and says “It seems to me we haven’t thanked our host properly.” “He is more than just our host.” T-Dog says raising his glass so Dale raises his glass and says “Hear! Hear!” and Daryl says “Here’s to you, doc. Booyah!” The guys say “Booyah!” as well, as Rick says to Jenner “Thank you. Thank you, doctor.” “So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?” Shane asks looking at Jenner and adds “All the-the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?” I shake my head as Rick says “We’re celebrating, Shane. Don’t need to do this now.” Sitting back down. “Whoa, wait a second. This is why we’re here, right? This was your move, supposed to find all the answers and T’s brother. Instead we….we found him. Found one man. Why?” Shane says pointing at Jenner who says “Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And then things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted.” “Every last one?” Shane asks not reading the underline point Jenner made of ‘they quit’. “No, many couldn’t face walking out the door. They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time.” Jenner says. “You didn’t leave. Why?” Andrea asked. “I just kept working, hoping to do some good. Yori convinced me that that was what we were meant to do.” Jenner says looking at me before adding “He’s a good man, your brother.”  Glenn says “Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man.” Looking at Shane. We finished eating and Jenner lead us to the rooms saying “Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you’ll have to make do here, with two or three to a room. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There’s a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don’t plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies, if you shower go easy on the hot water.” Before walking away. Glenn turns and asks “Hot water?” “That’s what the man said.” T-Dog replies and they both laugh. We then split off into groups; Rick, Lori, and Carl in one room, Carol, Sophia, and Jacqui in another, Dale and Andrea in another, then Glenn, T-Dog, and Shane in another, and finally Daryl and I.

            I wanted to share with Glenn but he said that he didn’t want to deal with a drunk me. So naturally I flipped him off causing him to say that that proved his point but I know he was scheming something. Though he might be sort of correct in his observation of me being drunk. Going in the room I go and sit on the couch and rub my head a headache forming from a little too much to drink. ‘I might not remember tonight, for a few days at least. Fuck you Glenn!’ I think to myself, as Glenn was the one who kept giving me the wine, as Daryl tells me “I’m showering first.” going into the bathroom and shutting the door. I go and dig through my bag getting a clean set of clothes to sleep in and mentally thank Daryl for getting it for me. I set my clean clothes on the table and start drawing imaginary circles on the ceiling trying to clear my head. 

***Daryl’s POV***

            I tried to share a room with T-Dog and Shane but Glenn said he didn’t want to deal with a drunk T. T flipped him off and he said that proved his point. Going into the room he sits on the couch and rubs his head signaling that he was in fact drunk or at least buzzed. “I’m showering first.” I tell him and go into the bathroom and shut the door. Taking a quick shower I realize I didn’t bring a change of clothes into the bathroom. “Shit!” I say quietly and T’s stomach flashes in my mind reminding me he has scars too. I wrap a towel around my waist and step out of the bathroom seeing T sitting on the couch looking at the ceiling with his hand in the air making imaginary circles. ‘Must be drunker then I thought.’ I think before I say “Showers free.” He looks at me and nods before grabbing the pile of clothes on the table and walking past me and into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. I get dressed and remember I left my dirty clothes in the bathroom. I open the door but shut it quickly seeing something I know I shouldn’t have. ‘T’s a girl…that I just saw naked.’ I think stepping away from the door and sitting on the coach I think ‘Scars, everywhere but her face and hands. Most of them are faded but the others look like they happened a year ago.’ The bathroom door opens and I watch T as she puts her dirty clothes in her bag, she was wearing another hoodie, her hat that hid her long hair, sweat pants, and the dog tags. She hadn’t worn a bandana around her neck since I ripped the one off back at the Quarry. Remembering Jenner said that Yori left something of her’s here I say “Military brothers and redneck brothers. We’d make a good team.” Deciding it was best she didn’t know I knew. She looks at me smiling as she nods making my heart skip a beat.

            “I’ll take the cot.” I say standing up and sit down on it. She nods and sits down on the coach looking at me before going back to drawing imaginary circles in the air towards the ceiling. “Are you drunk?” I ask. She nods and continues what she’s doing. I have an idea then so I ask “You’re a guy, right?” She shakes her head, takes off the dog tags, and throws them at me all without looking at me and keeps drawing circles. I look at the dog tags and read “Tia M. Omashu. Date of Birth November 1st 1990. O negative. No preference.” I then look over at her and see that she fell asleep. I get up, go over to her, and put the dog tags back around her neck telling her “I won’t tell anyone you’re a girl or that you’re actually 22.” Before going over and laying down on the cot and closing my eyes.

****T’s POV****

            I wake up on the coach and mentally swear at myself for drinking so much last night that I now have a hangover and can’t remember what happened after Glenn told Shane he was a buzzkill. 'I'll remember in a few days though.' I think sitting up. I look at Daryl who’s still sleeping on the cot so I grab my notebook, put it around my neck, quickly change into jeans and head to the kitchen area. I’m the first one there so I sit at the table and place my forehead on it not wanting to do anything. The coolness of the table sort of helping dull the headache. A few minutes T-Dog comes in asking “Hangover?” I nod not looking up and so he says “I’ll make breakfast then.” Glenn then comes in groaning and sits next to me copying me. T-Dog laughs putting breakfast on the table as we both flip him off which makes him laugh harder and say “You two are like two peas in a pod.” “What’s so funny?” Carl asks as he, Lori, Dale, and Andrea come in. “T and Glenn have hangovers. Like your dad is sure to have when he wakes up.” Lori says as they sit down at the table. Jenner comes in and puts a bottle of aspirin on the table and says “Though you guys would need this. Especially you, T, Yori said alcohol wasn’t a big fan of you guys.” I groan so he says “Take them, I’ll know if you didn’t.” before walking out of the room. Rick then comes in saying “Morning.” I glare at him as I take a bite out of the bacon. “Are you hungover? Mom said you’d be.” Carl asks as Jacqui, Carol, and Sophia come in. “Mom is right.” Rick says sitting down so Lori says “Mom has that annoying habit.” Jacqui is rubbing Glenn and I’s shoulders as T-Dog says “Eggs. Powdered, but-but I do ‘em good.” Loudly causing Glenn and I to groan so T-Dog continues “I bet you can’t tell. Protein helps the hangover.” Putting the eggs on our plates. “Where’d all this come from?” Rick asks so Lori says “Jenner.” “Could you help me, please?” Rick asks handing her the bottle so she says “He thought we could use it. Some of us at least.” Looking at Glenn and I. I frown as Glenn says “Don’t ever ever ever let us drink again.” Just as Shane comes in saying “Hey.” “Hey.” Rick says looking at him before adding “Feel as bad as I do?” “Worse.” Shane says as T-Dog asks him “The hell happened to you? Your neck?” causing me to look at Shane as he sat down. “I must have done it in my sleep.” He says causing me to think ‘Lier’ as Rick says “Never seen you do that before.” “Me neither. Not like me at all.” Shane says looking at Lori who looks away so I mentally tell her ‘Good job.’ As Jenner comes in again saying “Morning.” “Hey, doc.” Everyone greets before Dale starts to say “Doctor, I don’t mean to slam you with questions first thing-““But you will anyway.” Jenner says cutting him off as Daryl walks in. “We didn’t come here for the eggs.” Andrea says causing Jenner to look at everyone before settling on me. I shrug so he says “Come with me.”

            We follow him into the big room and he hits a button on the computer and says “Give me playback of TS-19.” “Playback of TS-19” Vi says starting to load the playback as Jenner says “Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few.” “Is that a brain?” Carl asks as I determine it’s Jenner’s wife as he says “An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for EIV.” “Enhanced internal view.” Vi says. Everyone is staring at the video in interest not knowing what’s happening. “What are those lights?” Shane asks so Jenner explains “It’s a person’s life-experiences, memories. It’s everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you-the thing that makes you unique. And human” looking at them. “You don’t make sense ever?” Daryl asks. “Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death.” Jenner says looking back at the screen. “Death? That’s what this is, a vigil?” Rick asks looking at Jenner. I nod as Jenner says, being technical, “Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil.” “This person died? Who?” Andrea asks so Jenner says “Test Subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected…and volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event.” “Scanning to first event.” Vi says. Seeing the virus Glenn asks “What is that?” “It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs…Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be…gone.” Jenner says causing Andrea to look at the ground thinking of Amy as Sophia asked “Is that what happened to Jim?” “Yes.” Carol tells her. Andrea starts crying so Jenner looks at her “She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister.” Lori tells him. Walking closer to Andrea Jenner says “I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is.” Looking back at the screen he adds “Scan to the second event.” “Scanning to second event.” Vi says. “The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute…seven seconds.” Seeing the red lights Lori asks “It restarts the brain?” I shake my head as Jenner says “No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving.” “But they’re not alive?” Rick asks. “You tell me.” Jenner tells Rick pointing to the screen, Rick shakes his head and says “It’s nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark.” “Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part-that doesn’t come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct.” Jenner says before a bullet goes through the brain and Carol asks “God. What was that?” “He shot his patient in the head. Didn’t you?” Andrea says. “Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations.” Jenner says ignoring her question but glances at me with an almost hated gaze, meaning Yori did it. “Powering down main screen and workstations” Vi says as Jenner goes to his workstation. “You have no idea what it is, do you?” Andrea asks. “It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal.” Jenner starts when Jacqui asks “Or the wrath of God?” “There is that.” Jenner says looking at me as I shake my head, ‘I don’t believe in any type of God, but if there was one they could have started this’ I think. “Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere” Andrea says. “There are others, right? Other facilities?” Carol asks and I sigh as Jenner says “There may be some. People like me. People like Yori.” “But you don’t know? How could you not know?” Rick asks being stupid. “Everything went down. Communications, directives- all of it. We’ve been in the dark for almost a month.” Jenner says. “So it’s not just here. There’s nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That’s what you’re really saying, right?” Andrea asks. He doesn’t answer her so she lets out a breath as Jacqui says “Jesus.” Before Daryl says “Man, I’m gonna get shit-faced drunk again.” Leaning on one of the workstations putting his head in his hands. “Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but...that clock-it’s counting down. What happens at zero?” Dale asks looking at Jenner who says “The basement generators-they run out of fuel.” “And then?” Rick asks looking at me, as Jenner walks away, I shrug, for once not knowing, so he asks “Vi, what happens when the power runs out?” “When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur.” Vi says causing me to sigh heavily. Rick, Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog then go to the basement as the rest of us go back to our rooms, Daryl detouring to get a bottle of alcohol before coming into the room drinking it.

            Thinking I should try and get some insight about what happened last night I write "Last night, what happened after Glenn called Shane a buzzkill?" Turning it around and getting his attention. "Just took a shower and fell asleep." Daryl says simply after reading it and takes another drink. I look at him for a bit before shrugging knowing I will just have to wait for my brain to remember as he seems to not want to talk about it.

****Rick’s POV****

            As Shane, Glenn, T-Dog and I go down the stairs to the basement to check the generators. “Decontamination-what does that mean?” Glenn asks so Shane adds “I don’t like the way Jenner clammed up. The way he just wandered off like that.” “What’s wrong with him? Seriously, man, is he nuts, medicated or what?” T-Dog asks as I look at the map on the wall. “In there.” I say heading towards the door. Shane turns the lights on when we walk in so I tell Glenn and T-Dog to check one why as Shane and I check another. I find one generator still running but it’s on “F” so I lift the gas barrel, finding it empty I tell Shane “It’s empty.” Just as the lights go out and Vi says “Emergency lighting on.” “What the hell is this?” Shane asks as Glenn and T-Dog come running into the side we’re on. “Hey, you guys kill the lights?” Glenn asks. “Nah, it just went out.” Shane says as I ask them “Anything?” “Yeah, a lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count.” T-Dog says. Looking at me Shane says “It can’t be down to just that one.”

****T’s POV****

            The air conditioning stops so I stand up looking at the ceiling, not liking the feeling of dread that is creeping up. Daryl looks at me just as the lights go out. We open the door and everyone is asking Jenner what's happening as he walks down the hall. He grabs the bottle from Daryl and takes drinks as he keeps walking as we follow him as I think 'Well this isn't good.' A few minutes later Rick, Glenn, Shane, and T-Dog runs up to the group just as we get into the big room.” Jenner, what’s happening?” Rick asks. “The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It’s designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule.” Jenner says stopping, taking a big drink of the alcohol before handing it back to Daryl who snatches it. “It was the French.” Jenner then says. “What?” Andrea asks so Jenner says “They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution.” ‘Sam…’ I think worried but shake my head form the thought as Jacqui asks “What happened?” Jenner looks at her and says “The same thing that’s happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?” “Let me tell you-“Shane starts but Rick says “To hell with it. I don’t care. Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We’re getting out of here now!” as Jenner starts walking to a workstation. The others start to leave when an alarm starts going off.  “30 minutes to decontamination.” Vi says after everyone asks “What’s that?” I watch Jenner carefully as Daryl yells “Doc, what’s going on here, damn it?” “Everybody, y’all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let’s go! Go now! Go!” Shane yells just as the door closes. “No!” I try to yell at Jenner but my voice is barely above a whisper due to underuse as I go for the key pad and Glenn says “Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!” Jenner grabs me, holds down my arms, and turns on the recorder saying “We’ve hit the 30-minute window. I am recording.” As I’m struggling to get free. “You son of a bitch.” Daryl yells running at Jenner and I. “Shane!” Rick yells as Daryl yells “You locked us in here!” grabbing Jenner’s chair as Shane pulls him back says “No no no no! Don’t!” T-Dog comes running yelling “Wait, no! No, don’t do it.” Helping Shane with Daryl. Rick walking towards the group says “Hey, Jenner, open that door now and let T go.” “There’s no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed.” Jenner says as I continue to struggle. “Well, open the damn things.” Dale says. “That’s not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn’t open again. You heard me say that.” He pause as everyone looks at him shocked before he adds “It’s better this way.” “What is? What happens in 28 minutes?” Rick asks Jenner doesn’t say anything so Shane says “Come on!” as Rick asks again “What happens in 28 minutes?!” Jenner stands up pushing me at Daryl yelling “Do you know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola stains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don’t want getting out! Ever!” clearly losing it. Everyone stares at him as he sits down and says “In the event of a catastrophic power failure- in a terrorist attack for example-HIT’s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out.” “HIT’s?” Rick asks so Jenner says "Vi define." “HIT’s are high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5000 degrees and 6000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structure is desired.” Vi says and everyone but Jenner looks shocked. “It sets the air on fire. No pain. And end to sorrow, grief…regret……Everything.” Jenner says simply.

            Daryl then throws the bottle of alcohol at the door and yells “Open the damn door!” as Shane runs at the door with a fire ax yelling “Out of my way!” and starts hitting it. “Daryl!” T-Dog yells throwing him another ax. They’re both hitting the door as I try to hack into the computers to shut down the shutdown. Jenner looks at me and says “You should’ve left well enough alone. It would’ve been so much easier.” I scoff as Lori asks “Easier for who?” “All of you. You know what’s out there-a short, brutal life and an agonizing death. Your-Your sister-what was her name?” Jenner says looking at Andrea who says “Amy.” “Amy. You know what this does. You’ve seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?” Jenner says looking at Rick who says “I. Don’t. Want. This.” “Can’t make a dent.” Shane says so Jenner says “Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher.” “Well, your head ain’t!” Daryl yells trying to swing the ax a Jenner. Rick and Dale stop him as Rick yells “Daryl! Daryl! Just back up! Just back up! You could end up hitting T!” Daryl drops the ax as Jenner stands up and says to me "You do want this. There’s no way Yori is still alive. He can’t run faster than a jog. He can’t out run them.” then looking at Rick adds “You want this too. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead.” I yell 'Fuck you Jenner!' In my head really wanting to punch him but focus on what I’m doing as Shane asks Rick “What? You really said that? After all your big talk?” “I had to keep hope alive, didn’t I?” Rick asks so Jenner counters “There is no hope. There never was.” “There’s always hope. Maybe it won’t be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere.” Rick counters before Andrea asks “What part of everything is gone do you not understand?” “Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event.” Jenner says causing Carol to cry “This isn’t right. You can’t just keep us here.” “One tiny moment, a millisecond. No pain.” Jenner says but Carol says “My daughter doesn’t deserve to die like this.” “Wouldn’t it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?” Jenner asks just as a gun cocks and Rick yells “Shane, no!” “Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door or I’m gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!” Shane yells as I’m finally on the final firewall. “Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here.” Rick says so Lori adds “Shane, you listen to him.” “It’s too late.” Shane says so Rick starts “He dies, we all-“as Shane yells he continues “We all die! Shane!” Daryl pulls me back just as Shane starts shooting the computers. Rick takes him down but the computer I was doing the hack from was shot so I mutter “Fuck…There’s not enough time for me to start another hack.” as Rick asks Shane “Are you done now? Are you done?” “Yeah, I guess we all are.” Shane says.

            Rick looks at everyone and hands T-Dog the gun before saying “I think you’re lying.” “What?” Jenner asks. “You’re lying about no hope. If that were true, you’d have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn’t. You chose the hard path. Why?” Rick says so Jenner says “It doesn’t matter.” “It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?” Rick says. “Not because I wanted to. I made a promise…to her. My wife.” Jenner says pointing at the screen. “Test subject 19 was your wife?” Lori asks. “She and Yori begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?” Jenner says as Daryl and I start hitting the door again with the axes, me more to just get my frustration out, then adding “She was dying. It should’ve been me on that table. I wouldn’t have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, people like her, is Einstein. Me? I’m just….Edwin Jenner. She could’ve done something about this. Not me.” “Your wife didn’t have a choice. You do. That’s-that’s all we want, a choice, a chance.” Rick says so Lori pleads “Let us keep trying as long as we can.” Jenner looks at her before saying “I told you topside’s locked down. I can’t open those.” And going over to the key pad and opening the door.  “Come on!” Daryl yells so I nod to him before run to our room to grab my bag, as everyone else does the same also yelling their versions of come on. The bag is the only one I have while the others have things in the cars so I went to get it. I join the group a few minutes later, minus Jacqui, Andrea, and Dale, just as they start running up the stairs to the top floor.

“Get them doors open!” Glenn yells running to the doors with T-Dog trying to get them open as I go for the key pad and start dismantling it, trying to make it glitch and open the door. Shane yells “Daryl!” and Daryl throws him one of the axes and they start hitting the window as Glenn yells “It doesn’t work!”  “Come on! Come on!” Daryl yells as Carol says “Stay close, sweetheart.” Then T-Dog yells "Daryl, look out!" and starts hitting the window with a chair. It doesn't work so Shane says "Dog, get down! Get down!" before shooting the glass with a shotgun. "The glass won't break?!" Sophia asks scared making me remember the grenade Rick got from the tank that Carol found so I ask her quietly "You still have that grenade?" She nods before digging in the bag looking at Rick saying "Rick, I might have something that can help." "Carol, I don’t think a nail file’s gonna do it." Shane says. She shakes her head as she pulls out the grenade and says "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." Rick goes to grab it but I do and run to the window shaking my head as Daryl yells "T no!" I ignore him and look at Rick as I pull the pin and get ready to release is so he yells "Everybody get down!" I drop it and sprint back towards the group Daryl grabs me and pulls me under him as it explodes. "Come on let’s go!" He yells pulling me up with him and start running out the now broken window.

****Daryl’s POV****

            When the door opens I yell “Come on!” to the rest of the group. T nods at me before running to our room to grab his bag, as everyone else runs out the door yelling their versions of come on. Jacqui, Andrea, and Dale decide to stay and we start running to the top floor. T joins us when we get to the stairs to the top floor.

“Get them doors open!” Glenn yells running to the doors with T-Dog trying to get them open as T goes for the key pad and start dismantling it, probably trying to hack it. Shane yells “Daryl!” and I throw him one of the axes and we start hitting the window as Glenn yells “It doesn’t work!”  “Come on! Come on!” I yell at the window as Carol says “Stay close, sweetheart.” Then T-Dog yells "Daryl, look out!" I get out of the way and he starts hitting the window with a chair. It doesn't work so Shane says "Dog, get down! Get down!" before shooting the glass with a shotgun after T-Dog moves. "The glass won't break?!" Sophia asks scared. T then whispers something in Carol’s ear. Carol nods before digging in her bag looking at Rick saying "Rick, I might have something that can help." "Carol, I don’t think a nail file’s gonna do it." Shane says. She shakes her head as she pulls out the grenade and says "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." Rick goes to grab it but T does and runs to the window as I yell "T no!" not caring if the others hear me. She ignores me and look at Rick’s as she pulls the pin and get ready to release is so he yells "Everybody get down!" She then drops it and sprints towards the group so I grab her and pull her under me as it explodes. "Come on let’s go!" I yell at her pulling her up with me and start running out the now broken window. Rick and Shane shoot the walkers and I chop off their heads with the axes as we run to the cars. When T and I get to my truck Lori yells “Dale, get down! Down!” as the R.V.’s horn honks so I quickly push her in and cover her as I close the car door and the building explodes. We’re both breathing heavy and I quickly get off her realizing the position we were in and get into the driver’s seat as she sits up. She watches Dale and Andrea get into the R.V. as I look at her thinking ‘She has no idea her risking her life affects me the way it does.’  And start the truck. The caravan then starts moving back towards Fort Benning.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7-I'm Yori

****T's POV****

A few miles out of the city we were running really low on gas so we stopped and condensed our vehicles to the R.V., Carol's Jeep, and Daryl's Motorcycle. Ever since the CDC Rick, Lori, and Carol have been looking at and treating me like I'm their child. I don't mind it really as I never really had parents. It has just been me and Yori since I was ten and he was twenty when they were killed. I'm helping siphon the gas from the vehicles we're not going to use anymore when Dale comes over to us and asks me, T-Dog, and Shane "Where are you three riding? Rick, Lori, and Carl are riding with Carol and Sophia. So all three of you are riding in the R.V. or one of you ride with Daryl and the rest in the R.V." Just then Glenn says "T should ride with Daryl." I look at Glenn confused as Daryl says "That's fine." I then look at him confused so he adds "You don't take up that much room." I frown not knowing if that was an insult or not and look at Dale hoping for some help but all he does is smile at me before going back to the R.V. 'They are up to something.' I think as I look at Glenn who smirks at me. "T." Daryl then says before walking over to his bike so I follow him as T-Dog and Shane go over to the R.V. with the gas cans. As he gets on the bike he says "Just get on and hold on to me when we start moving." I nod and get on behind him as he starts the bike. He starts heading to the front of the caravan and I wrap my arms around his waist lightly. We then start heading out to Fort Benning.

****Time skip to pile up****

Up ahead there's a pile up of cars so I point to it and Daryl says "I see it. Hold on, I'm gonna see if there's a way through." So I hold onto him tighter as he speeds up and navigates through the pile up finding a path for the R.V. and turning around heading back towards them as they stopped. We pull up next to the R.V. and Dale asks "See a way through?" We nod and I point ahead of them as Daryl gestures with his head that way before going around the R.V. and back in front of it leading it. We slowly make our way through the cars when all of a sudden the R.V. starts smoking. I tap Daryl on the shoulder so he stops and parks the bike. We get off and make our way over to the group as Dale says "Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-"before Daryl starts going through one of the cars. Dale then says "Okay, that was dumb." "If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane says trailing off as Daryl says "There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." "I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog says. "Maybe some water." Carol says and Glenn adds "Or food." But Lori says "This is a graveyard." We all look at her so she adds "I don't know how I feel about this." But Daryl goes back to going through the car as T-Dog says "All right, all right, here we go." And Shane says "Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." So we all start to go around and search the cars. I go to the cars a little bit farther away from the group and start looking through them, letting my snooping side take over. 'This is the way Yori must have come. He might have left a clue somewhere that he's been here. Our cabin isn't that far from here.' I think going through everything in the cars. I come to a blazer that has something written on the window on the inside getting closer I see it reads "T lic pl MDE-28SC bw n kf un" so I quickly start checking the license plates of the cars heading back towards the group. I find it just as I pass Lori, Carol, and the kids. I quickly slide under the car and find my bow, arrows, quiver, and hunting knife taped to the bottom. I start taking them off when Rick runs past me and says "T get completely under the car. Lori, under the cars. Carl, Sophia, get down now." Carl, Sophia, and Rick get under the cars next to me as I scoot myself farther under the car. Sophia is under the car directly next to me so when she looks at me I put my finger to my lips and she nods. I then make quick work of getting my stuff off the car as quietly as I can and getting them off just as the walkers start walking by. When Sophia looks at me again I motion for her to stay looking at me. She nods and makes eye contact with me and I with her.

The walkers die down and she starts making her way from under the car towards me. I shake my head but a walker notices her as she screams and it crawls under the car to get her so I quickly pull her to me then from under my car just as a pair of walker comes from around it. I pick her up and start making my way to the woods were we can hide but I'm slow on the hill and the walkers don't have to worry about dropping someone. I get to the bottom of the hill and start running into the woods as Rick follows us from behind the walkers. I'm making a good sized gap between us and the walkers just then Rick comes up from my right and a group of five walkers come from the left so I give Sophia to him yell "Take her now!" as I pull my pocket knife from my pocket. He takes off in the direction he came from with her but I can tell he's winded and original two walkers go after them. I yell in frustration trying to get them to turn their attention to me but they see Rick and Sophia as an easy target. I then have to quickly jump back as one of the five walkers reaches for me, stab it in the back of the head with my pocket knife, unfortunately it breaks so I have to quickly kick the walker back into two others and take down the one still standing with my hunting knife. But I notice three more come from behind them so I start going the way I was originally going while making as much noise as possible so they follow me and don't go in Rick's and Sophia's direction. I only jog so they keep their interest till I'm sure I'm far enough away and quickly veer left, start sprinting, and hide behind a tree. They start passing me and when it's the last one I quickly come out and stab it in the back of the neck severing the brain stem making very little noise. Then I pick up a rock and throw it to the right of the group of them. Only three of them head that way and the other two stopped, so I line up the shot and throw my knife into the head of one of the ones who stopped. As it starts falling I rush forward, rip the knife from its head, and drive it into the head of the other causing the three to turn back to me. I run towards and around them, stop and sever one's brain stem, and jump back quickly. I then run towards them again but slide under them causing them to fall as I take out their legs with my arms. I stand quickly and throw the knife at one's head and jump on the other and start smashing its face into a rock repeatedly till the skull breaks.

I'm panting and don't notice the arrival of another walker and get pushed to the ground by it. I flip it backwards off me but it has a good grip on my sleeves and takes me with it and down the hill. Luckily I land on it so I stand up ripping its arms from mine as I start kicking its face in. When it's re-dead I look were I've fallen and see there's no way for me to get back up as the sides are too step and there is no roots or rocks in them for me to grab on to. I frown, sit down exhausted, and hope Daryl can track where I went as I start to throw small rocks over the hill bored and keeping myself from going to sleep.

****Daryl's POV****

"What happened?" I ask as T-Dog and I make our way to the group that where looking towards the woods. Just then Rick comes out of the woods and asks "They're not back yet?!" It's then that I don't notice Sophia or T in the group as Carol yells "Where are they?!" Lori tries to calm her down as Rick says "We have to find them." Before turning and going back into the woods with Glenn, Shane, and I following him. He leads us a spot with two dead walkers and says "This is where T gave me Sophia and told me to take her when a group of walkers came from that direction." He points and turns around and points in the opposite direction and adds "I took off with Sophia in that direction as T went that way drawing three of the walkers after him after killing these two." Pointing in the direction she went. "Sophia first. T knows how to survive out here, Sophia doesn't." Glenn says I didn't like it especially seeing the broken knife but agreed that even without it she had a better chance than Sophia so Rick leads us to a river and I ask "Sure this is the spot?" "I left Sophia right here after we separated from T. I drew the walkers that followed us way off in that direction up the creek." Rick says pointing in the direction he says he went. "Without a paddle-seems where we've landed." I say so Rick says "She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder." Pointing in the direction of the highway. I walk over to the spot and tell Glenn "Hey, Short Round, why don't you step off to one side? You're mucking up the trail." "Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane says. "Shane, she understood me fine." Rick says so Shane says "Kid's tired and scared, man. She and T had a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck." As I look for Sophia's prints I find them and say "Got clear prints right here. Sophia did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back." Getting out of the river as Shane says "They couldn't have gone far." And adds "Hey, we gonna find them. Sophia will be tuckered out hiding in a bush somewhere while T is probably talking with some forest animal and forgot to come back." Looking at Rick. "T doesn't forget anything." Glenn says angry and glaring at Shane.

Following the trail I notice it veers off so I kneel and say "Sophia was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way." Pointing in the direction she went as Glenn asked "Why would she do that?" "Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off." Shane suggests so Glenn asks "A walker? T?" I shake my head and say "I don't see any other footprints. Just hers." "So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asks so Rick says "No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on their trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm." "I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied. Come on." Shane says starting to walk back to the highway Glenn follows but doesn't look to happy about it. I then start leading Rick in the direction Sophia went.

****Yori's POV****

I was about twenty yards away from the cabin hunting when I heard a girl scream. I go as fast as I can in the direction of the scream and find a little girl in a tree with two walkers under her. I quickly shoot them with my bow and ask the girl "You okay?" She nods so I help her down from the tree and ask "What's a little miss like you doing out in the woods alone?" She's still petrified so I say "I'm Yori. Your group is probably looking for you. I'll help you find them." She stares at me before asking "You're T's brother?" "My sister is in your group?" I ask her then nodding. "Yeah! We're back at the highway." She says excited. "The highway? We won't make it there before dark…Come on, we'll go back to our cabin for the night before heading that way." I say and start leading her back to the cabin.

****T's POV****

A walker was circling the ""hole" I was in so I pulled the walker on me and watch it. I hear someone whistle and the walker roars looking at them. An arrow is then in its head and it falls rolling down to hill. 'Orange and yellow feathers…' I think as I hear Daryl call "Sophia! T!" as I see Rick look at me. "Down there." He says starting to go to slide down so I shake my head. He stops and asks "You bit?" causing Daryl to slide down the hill and start checking me after pulling the dead walker off. I frown, shake my head, and point to the side of the hill. Daryl slowly looks at it and says "Oh…" "What?" Rick asks staying at the top. "No way up." He replies and takes his arrow from the walkers head. "I'll find something." Rick says and starts searching. I go over to the walker Daryl shot and looked at it. I roll it over and notice it fed recently so I frown, look at Daryl, and point at his knife. "I'll do it." He says as he pulls out his knife. I put my hands up and step away so he stabs it and starts cutting its belly open. He then feels around in it for the stomach, looks at me and says "Yeah, hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there." Before ripping the stomach out and throwing it on the ground adding "Here's the gut bag." "What are you two doing?" Rick asks having found a fallen tree and pushed it over the hill making a way up. "Checking." Daryl says opening the stomach and stab something inside it, pulling it out he says "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." "At least we know." Rick says as I start climbing up the hill. "At least we know." Daryl says back before also climbing up the hill. I get to the top and Rick says "I found this. I believe it's yours." Holding my knife out to me. I nod taking it from him and then taking the sheath out of my pocket, putting it on the knife, and putting it back in my pocket. It's getting late when Sophia's trail goes cold, so we decide to head back to the highway and pick up Sophia's trail in the morning. Coming out of the woods I get tackled by Glenn as Carol says "You didn't find her?" "Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again at first light." Rick says as I try to get Glenn off me but he's hugging me like he thought he would never see me again. "You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol says so Daryl says "Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people'd get lost." "But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol says so Rick says "I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Daryl jumps in and says "And we tracked her for a while." So Rick adds "We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl and T knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked them to oversee this." Looking at Carol but she's looking at Daryl and asks "Is that blood?" and starts breathing heavy. "We took down a walker." Rick says causing Carol to panic and say "Walker? Oh, my God." So Rick quickly says "There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia." "How can you know that?" Andrea asks so Rick looks at Daryl who says "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Glenn finally let's go of me when Carol asks Rick "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?" "Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Rick says to her so Shane says "Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." "How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." Carol accuses Rick who says quickly "It was the only option. The only choice I could make." "I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane says as everyone looks at Rick. Carol starts crying and says "My little girl got left in the woods." Clearly blaming Rick who already blames himself so I sit down where I am and focus on watching the woods ignoring the others thinking ‘At 12 I managed to find my way out of hell but I don’t know if Sophia can without help.’

An hour goes by and Glenn sets my bow and quiver next to me saying "Kept them safe for you." I nod so he walks away. A few minutes go by and someone sits next to me not saying anything so I keep my focus on the woods. We sit in silence until they ask "You sure you're not hurt." I nod and he says "Get some sleep. I'll watch for her." Causing me to look at him. Daryl isn't looking at me but at the woods and seems to be thinking something. I sigh and look back at the woods only for him to pull me close to him and order "Sleep." I try to pull away, not liking the warm feeling now in my chest and feeling of safety, but he's holding me tight so I give up, rest my head on his shoulder, and realize just how tired I am as I quickly fall asleep.

****Glenn's POV****

I watch as Daryl goes and sits next to T. Nothing happens for a while as Rick walks up to me asking "Anything new?" I nod and point at the two. He chuckles and says quietly "Make sure they don't kill each other. Daryl is pretty upset that T fought six walkers on her own." "You know?" I ask causing him to say "Yeah. I think Daryl does too." Just then Daryl pulls T close to him and holds on to her as she tries but fails to pull away. She gives up and rests her head on his shoulder, he looks at her and a look that can only be described as pure affection is on his face before he looks back to the woods. "I feel like I saw something I shouldn't have." I say slowly looking at Rick who nods and says "I was right." We walk away as I ask "He liked her before he knew?" "Yeah, didn't you see his face the first time he looked at her?" Rick asked. I think back to that day and say "Oh my God. I thought it was just her." "I don't think they know the extent of their own feelings yet though." Rick says so I say "I know...they know they care about the other but they don't know how much they do even though we all can see it." "They can't even see it with each other." Rick states then. "Who? Daryl and T?" Dale asks coming from behind a car. Rick and I nod so he says "Those boys they have something special and rare. That's why they can't see it. It'll be best to just let them figure it out themselves. If you push them they might run. Or being how each of them are…kill each other.”

****Time skip till morning****

Rick puts the weapons Carl found on a car hood and says "Everybody takes a weapon." But Andrea says "These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" "We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, T, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane says as T hands me a weapon from one of the ones on the hood. "It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea says. As I inspect the hatchet T gave me Shane says "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So need to get over it." Daryl then says "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." As T stops me from playing with the hatchet. "Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick says as T follows Daryl away from the group.

****T's POV****

I stop Glenn from playing with the hatchet I gave him so he wouldn't hurt himself as Daryl says "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." "Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick says as I follow Daryl away from the group and not wanting to listen to Andrea complain I wait in front of the woods. When we start to head out I see Carl is coming with us so I stick behind him as we search. Daryl is leading and I'm in the back watching Carl. He stops and says "Shane, look. Dad said I could carry it and Mom said as long as I was-"but is cut off by Shane being a dick and saying "Keep it down. We're looking for Sophia. You need to focus on the task." Causing Carl to look down and walk slower so Lori says "Got to keep up." "I am." Carl says sad. "You okay?" She asks so he says "I think Shane's mad at me. Did I do something wrong?" "No. No, honey, I promise you. He's just-he's worried about Sophia, that's all." She answers as we come up on a tent we all stop and Shane says "She could be in there." "Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl says saying what I was thinking and walks forward. Rick, Shane, and I follow him as the others stayed back. Daryl takes out his knife and motions for me to follow him as he slowly approaches the tent. We inspect it to see if we can see anything but we can't so I look at Rick and shrug so he says quietly "Carol." And motions for her to come. They approach slowly as Rick says "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear." As Daryl is ready at the front of the tent if it's anything but Sophia. "Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's Mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's Mommy." There's no response so Rick approaches as Daryl starts to unzip the door slowly and open it. He coughs as I go in it, it smells bad, but I've smelled worse. He follows me and I poke the body seeing if it will re-animate as Rick and Shane cough and gag outside the tent. "Daryl? T?" Carol asks as Daryl takes the gun from the dead body's hand and puts it in the back of his pants. He gets out then and says "It ain't her." "What's in there?" Andrea asks as I get out. "Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl says. I go to nod but take off in the direction of a bell ringing. They follow me as Carol says "If we hear them, maybe Sophia does too." So Glenn says "Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." "Or signaling that they found her." Andrea says causing Rick to say "She could be ringing them herself. Come on."

A few feet later we make it to the church but Shane says "That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells. Rick, T." as we ignore him and run to the church. The others follow us as we stop at the doors. Rick points at me signaling for the others to be quiet before we open the doors. Three walkers are inside and they slowly turn to face us. Lori gives Rick her machete and Glenn gives Daryl his hatchet as I pull out my knife. Rick goes for the single as Daryl and I go for the pair. Approaching the male as he approaches the female I quickly go around it and sever its brain stem and use its body as a shield against the female as Daryl sneaks up behind her. Making kissing sounds he gets her attention and smacks her in the face with the hatchet having to back up as she falls towards him. 'Rick it's dead.' I tell him in my head looking at him as he keeps hitting the walker with the machete. He then looks up and yells "Sophia!" as Daryl walks towards the statue of Jesus and says "Yo, JC, you taking requests?" "I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." Shane says just before the bells ring again. Daryl and I make it out of the church first and see the speaker. I go over and turn it off as Daryl says "A timer. It's on a timer." "I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol says following me and Daryl into the church. I stand with him in the back of the church when Carol begs god to keep Sophia safe. I look at the ground thinking 'You didn't protect me, but I swear to you that you better protect Sophia. She isn't strong like I was. Give her back.' Before walking out of the church and seeing Shane and Andrea speaking I try to read Andrea's lips but she's too far away and then the others come out of the church so they stop speaking and walk over to us. Shane walks over to Rick who is a bit away from us and they talk looking forward then at each other every so often so I can only read bits. But soon they stop and Shane comes towards us and says "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back. Okay, Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough." I shake my head and stand next to Rick who just walked up as Daryl asks "You're splitting us up. You sure?" "Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane says. "I want to stay, too. I'm her friend." Carl says causing Shane to look at Rick who looks at me, I nod so Lori says "Just be careful, okay? Stay with T." "I will." Carl says so she hugs him and asks "When did you start growing up?" Rick goes over and gives her a kiss while Carl walks over to me. He hugs her and says "I'll be along soon enough." Shane and Andrea have a staring contest. Rick tries to give Lori his gun but she says "I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." "Here, got a spare. Take it." Daryl says handing her the gun from the tent. He looks at me and nods before walking in front of his group as Andrea scoffs. We then split up. "Give me a minute?" Rick asks us before walking into the church. Shane rubs Carl's head and says "Come on." Before the two follow Rick to the church. I follow them and sit next to Carl on the steps as we wait for Rick. Rick comes out so Shane asks "Get what you needed?" "Guess I'll find out." Rick says walking off. Carl looks at me and I shrug so we get up follow him with Shane behind us.

****Time skip****

I'm leading them when we get into the woods. A branch snaps so I stop and pull Carl behind me. We slowly go in the direction of the snap and we see a deer through the branches. We stop and watch it go into a clearing. I look at Carl and he looks at me I nod and we start approaching the deer slowly as Rick whispers "Shane." Getting him to stop pointing his gun at the deer. We're getting closer so Carl looks back at them happy. We continue and he ends up stepping on a stick snapping it and causing the deer to look at us. I stop and let Carl go ahead on his own when I see the glint of the gun. Rushing forward I get in front of Carl as the gun fires. We both fall and Rick screams "No!" rushing forward as I sit up and put pressure on Carl's wound not caring about mine. The hunter comes out and says in a panic "I didn't see him. Hershel will help him." I pick Carl up and ask "Where?!" he points so I take off with Rick, Shane, and the guy hot on my heels.

The guy falls so Shane gets him but Rick and I keep going. Rick is struggling to keep up with me but when I see the farm house I sprint leaving Rick in the dust. The family come out as I get closer and the old one asks "Was he bit?" "Shot. By your man. He said to find Hershel. You him?" I say angry as they walk toward me. "Get him inside." Hershel says rushing inside I follow as Rick comes saying "Help him. Help my boy." When inside Hershel says "Patricia, I need my full kit. Maggie, painkillers, coagulates-grab everything. Clean towels, sheets, alcohol." Walking to a room taking off the sheets he says "In here." So I lay Carl down and put pressure on his wound again as Hershel says "Pillowcase." "Is he alive?" Rick asks. "Pillowcase, quick." He says again as he makes a tourniquet with his belt. "Is he alive?" Rick asks again getting the pillowcase but Hershel and I say "Fold it. Make a pad." Rick gives it to me so I but it on the wound and put pressure again as Hershel asks "You a doctor?" as he gets his stethoscope and listens for Carl's heart. "Are you?" I counter back, I know it's rude but hell I'm not gonna let this boy die even if I have to. "I've got a heartbeat. It's faint." Hershel says then stepping back says "Maggie, IV." One of the girls says "We need some space." Pushing Rick away. "Your name?" Hershel asks. "Rick. I'm-I'm Rick." Rick says so Hershel says "Rick we're gonna do everything we can, okay? You need to give us some room. Now." Putting the IV in Carl's arm.

The bleeding slows when Hershel asks me "Is that your blood?" "No." I say quickly probably too quickly as he pulls up my hoodie and says "You need help too." "No, Carl is first, I don't care if I die as long as he lives." I say quickly as he tries to get me to sit down. Just then Rick, Shane, and Otis come in so Hershel gives up and asks "You know his blood type?" "A-Positive, same as mine." Rick says so Hershel says "That's fortunate. Don't wander far. I'm gonna need you. What happened?" "I was tracking a buck. Bullet went through it. Went clean through." Otis says. I lift the pad a bit so Hershel can see so he says "The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved his life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. If we can get the bullet fragments out…and I'm counting two in him." "Lori doesn't know. My wife doesn't know. My wife doesn't know." Rick says crying so Shane takes him out of the room. So I look at Hershel and he nods. He hands me the tweezers as he helps hold Carl down if he wakes up. I get one out and he wakes up and starts crying. "He needs blood." I say simply as I look for the other one so one of the girls opens the door and says "Rick. He need blood." When they come in Hershel tells Shane "You, hold him down." As Carl yells "Dad!" "I got him." Shane says as the woman help hold Carl down goes to hook up Rick. Carl starts screaming so Rick yells "Stop! You're killing him!" "Rick, do you want him to live?" Hershel asks. The woman then says "He needs blood." So Shane yells at him "Do it now!" Rick then lets her do it. Carl passes out so Rick and Shane start panicking so I say "He just passed out." As I pull out the last piece. "I'm sorry. I didn't see it in time." I say putting the bandages on Carl as Hershel checks his blood pressure and says "Pressure's stable." "It's not your fault." Shane tells me as Rick says "Lori needs to be here. She doesn't even know what's going on. I've got to go find her. Bring her back." "You can't do that." Hershel tells him so Rick says "She's his mother. She needs to know what's happened. Her son's lying here shot." "And he's going to need more blood. He can't go more than 50 feet from this bed." Hershel tells Shane who nods and follows Rick out of the room. Hershel then comes over to me and says "You need to let me look." "No, not till he-"I start to say but everything goes black.

****Rick's POV****

"I need some help in here!" Hershel yells just as Maggie left to get Lori. We rush in and T is passed out on the floor with Hershel pressing on her side. "What-"I start but he says "We have to move her to the bed now!" Shane rushes forward, as I grab Carl off the bed, and lifts her on it. "Get the hoodie off! What's her blood type?" Hershel yells looking at me as Shane takes T's hoodie off. "I-I don't-"I stutter as Shane yells "O-negative! Shit!" reading her dog tag. "Beth! I need you now!" Hershel yells. She runs in and gasps but quickly sits in the chair I was in as Patricia hooks her up. "What's happening?!" I yell as T wakes up and starts screaming. "She took most of the bullet for your son. It got to be too much for her." Hershel says holding her down and trying to hook her up to the IV. Shane holds her down then so Hershel could hook her up and see the damage. "I need to remove these fragments. But they're deep and one must have nicked a blood vessel. See how her belly is distended. I need to go in and stitch it but she can't be moving like this or otherwise or I'll get an artery and she'll be dead in minutes. To even try to help her, I have to put her under. But if I do, she won't be able to breathe on her own. Same bad results." Hershel says bandaging her wounds. "What'll it take?" I ask as she passes out again. "You need a respirator. What else?" Otis says. "The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel answers so I ask "If you had all that you could save her?" "If I had all that, I could try." He answers. "Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Otis says but adds "The high school." When Hershel looks at him. "That's what I was thinking. They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need." Hershel says so Otis says "Place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it. Maybe it's better now." Shane looks at Carl then at T and says "Doc, why don't you do me a list and draw me a map?" "You won't need a map. I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles." Otis says but Patricia says "Otis no." "Honey, we don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone. I'll be alright." Otis says so Shane asks "Are you sure about this?" "You even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?" Otis asks so Shane says "Come to think, no." "I've been a volunteer EMT. I do. We can talk about this till next Sunday or we could just go do it real quick." Otis says. "I'll take right quick." Shane says. I look at Otis and say "I should thank you." But he says "Wait till that girl of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk. I'll gather some things.” And walks off. "You can set your boy on the coach out there." Hershel then tells me so Shane goes with me to put him down.

"Shane, why didn't she say anything?" I ask him sitting down. "I would say it's because she's mute but that's just a cover." Shane says. "She didn't hesitate to put Carl's life before hers. Yet I can't help her." I say looking at him. "What you can do to help her is keep her calm, while I go get the things." He says pointing to the room she was in before adding "That girl in there…she saved Carl so I'm not going to let her die."

****T's POV****

I wake up but don't scream even though I want too, not knowing where I was. I stare at the ceiling and my dead parents come into view. "Hey, baby girl." Mom says stroking my hair and getting in the bed next to me. "Why'd you come? I don't deserve it." I say to her. She starts crying and Dad says "You do. You're a good girl." "Mom?" I ask feeling sleepy. "What?" she asks so I ask "How do you know you love someone? Like love, love." "Do you trust them? With everything?" she asks. "I want to…" I say looking at her but add "Daryl will he be sad if I die?" "Very." Dad says so I ask "Will you tell him for me?" feeling my eyes get heavy. "You can when you get better." Mom says as I go back to sleep.

****Rick's POV****

When Lori and I come in the room T's looking at the ceiling so we go over to her. "Hey, baby girl." Lori says stroking her hair and getting in the bed with her. "Why'd you come? I don't deserve it." T says simply. Lori starts crying as I say "You do. You're a good girl." She blinks slowly and asks "Mom?" so Lori asks "What?" "How do you know you love someone? Like love, love." T asks and I hold my breath as Lori asks "Do you trust them? With everything?" T looks at her and says "I want to…Daryl, will he be sad if I die?" Lori nods as I say "Very." But T asks "Will you tell him for me?" as her eyes start closing. "You can when you get better." Lori tells her as her eyes close completely. "Lori, what are we gonna do?" I ask her. She looks at me determined and says "We are gonna take care of this little girl. You hear me? She is our baby now too." "I know that. I was talking about Daryl." I say. "You mean…"She says trailing off so I say "Ever since they first met. Didn't you see it?" "I just thought my eyes were playing tricks on me." She says laughing before saying "We tell him only if….you know." "Death." I state simply and she nods getting out of the bed.

We go out of the room and she says to Hershel "Okay, so I understand, when Shane gets back with this other man-""Otis." He supplies so she continues "Otis. The idiot who shot my kids." "Ma'am, it was an accident." Hershel says. "I'll take that under advisement later. For now he's the idiot who shot our kids." She says grabbing my hand so I say "Lori, they're doing everything they can to make it right." "Okay, as soon as they get back you can perform this surgery?" She asks. "I'll certainly do my best." He answers so she asks "Okay. You've done this procedure before?" "Well, yes, in a sense." He says so she asks "In a sense?" so I say "Honey, we don't have the luxury of shopping for a surgeon." "No, I understand that. But I mean you're a doctor, right?" She asks. "Yes, ma'am. Of course. A vet." He says so she asks "A veteran? A combat medic?" "A veterinarian." He answers causing both her and I to pause and lose a little hope but she asks "And you've done this surgery before on what? Cows? Pigs?" and I start sitting down saying "I-I have-I have to sit." But fall into the chair so Lori looks at Hershel and asks "Completely in over your head, aren't you?" "Ma'am aren't we all?" Hershel asks.

****Yori's POV****

"Hey kid? What's your name?" I ask her as I wrap her ankle. She had slipped into the river on the way to the cabin and broke it so I wanted to wait till it had a couple of days to heal before making the trek back to the highway. "Sophia." She answers. "Sophia? Well ain't that the cutest name for the cutest little girl." I say smiling at her causing her to laugh. "Why do you feel sad?" she asks suddenly so I ask "Why would you think I'm sad?" "Well, I know I'm worried about T and that makes me sad." She says and I ask her "You feel it too don't you?" She nods so I say "Yeah, T's probably gotten herself into trouble again." "Again?" she asks. "Yup, it's how I lost my leg. When we were in the war, there was this kid, not much older than you. He was held hostage, so T being T just walks up to them hands in the air. They get confused and someone arms a grenade. T pulls the kid under her as I run to get to her. We make it for the most part. I lost my leg, T lost the will to live." I tell her standing up. "She did that with us too." She says so I ask "What?" "Yeah, when we were in the CDC building and trying to get out she used a grenade to blow the window. But Daryl protected her. They like each other you know." She says happy. "Daryl?" I ask not knowing him. "Yeah, but they don't know it themselves. My Mom told me." She says causing me to say "Well your mom is probably right." "Why? If you like someone wouldn't you know?" She asks innocently. "Usually you would. But in T's case, she's afraid to love someone and she doesn't know how it feels to love someone." I say. "But she loves you right?" she asks causing me to chuckle and say "We're family, that's a different type of love." "So they love each other with the kissing love?" She asks serious. "Probably, though it might just be the type of love you have for friends." I say causing her to shake her head and say "Nope, that's how she feels about Glenn. You act a lot like him. That family and friend love is the same. T and Daryl love love each other." "You're pretty smart." I say then causing her to smile proudly and say "I know!"

 


	8. Chapter 8-He’s a military boy

****Daryl’s POV****

            I was trying to go to sleep but for some reason my mind kept going back to T leaving with Rick, Shane, and Carl. Not only did I feel like that was the last time I’ll see her, Carol is crying over Sophia, and Andrea is loading clips. I get up and decide to go look for Sophia. I grab my crossbow and say “I need my clip now.” Andrea hands it to me so I load it and say “I’m gonna walk the road, look for the girl.” I look at Carol and nod before leaving. I had only walked a few steps when Andrea follows saying “I’m coming, too.” So I look at Dale and say “I’m going for a walk. Shine some light in the forest. If she’s out there, give her something to look at.” “Do you think that’s a good idea right now?” Dale asks but Andrea says “Dale.” And walks past me so he drops it.

****Glenn’s POV****

            T-Dog and I get out of the car and walk towards the farm house. Stopping at the steps I ask “So do we ring the bell? I mean, it looks like people live here.” “We’re past this kind of stuff, aren’t we? Having to be considerate.” T-Dog asks walking up the steps. “Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?” the girl who came and got Lori asks. “Uh, hi. Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything.” She leans forward so I say “Hello. Nice to see you again. We met before briefly.” “Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?” T-Dog asks but groans. She looks at him so he says “It’s not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though.” “We’ll have it looked at. I’ll tell them you’re here.” She says so I say “We have some painkillers and antibiotics. I already gave him some. If Carl needs any.” I say so she says “Come on inside. I’ll make you something to eat.”  Going into the house we follow her in and she leads us into a room saying “Your friends are in here.” Going in the room I expect to see Carl on the bed but it’s T, Carl is sitting next to her bed holding her hand and crying. Rick and Lori are next to him holding his other hand and an old guy is sitting on the bed with T. I take off my hat and say “Hey.” “Hey.” Rick says looking at us. “I thought…” I start trailing off so Carl looks at me and says crying “She did it for me. She saved me.” “Um, we’re here, okay?” I say not really knowing what else to say. “Thank you.” Lori says. “Whatever you need.” T-Dog says. Rick nods so we leave the room.

****Carl’s POV****

            T-Dog and Glenn had just left the room when Hershel rolls down the blanket covering T, her stomach is purple and bloated, and looks at mom and dad and says “They don’t get back soon, we’re gonna have a decision to make.” “And that is?” Dad asks. “Whether to operate on her without the respirator.” Hershel says. “You said that wouldn’t work.” Mom says so I grip T’s hand harder. “I know. It’s extremely unlikely. But we can’t wait much longer.” Hershel says and mom and dad get up and leave. “I don’t want her to die.” I tell Hershel. He looks at me and says “Neither do I, but she has to keep fighting. There’s nothing I can do if she stops.” I nod and pray that she doesn’t stop.

****Daryl’s POV****

            “You really think we’re gonna find Sophia?” Andrea asks as we walk through the woods so I shine my light on her face then say “You got that look on your face same as everybody else, ‘cept T. What the hell’s wrong with you people? We just started looking.” “T would look forever even if he thought he wouldn’t find her. That’s just how he is. But do you think we’re actually gonna find her?” she asks. “It ain’t the mountains of Tibet. It’s Georgia. She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and they survive. It happens all the time.” I say. “She’s only 12.” Andrea says mockingly so I say “Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost. Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak.” “They found you?” she asks so I scoff and say “My old man was off on a bender with some waitress. Merle was doing another stint in juvie. Didn’t even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched something awful.” She laughs and says “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that is a terrible story.” I chuckle as she laughs again and I say “Only difference is Sophia’s got people looking for her. I call that an advantage. And like you said T won’t stop looking for her till he finds her.” Suddenly she asks “When he left with Rick, Shane, and Carl did you get the feeling you wouldn’t see him again?” “Why?” I ask, I did but didn’t want her to know that. “I did and do. The way he was acting, it was like he was willing to give his own life if it meant that Sophia would be back. It’s almost like he doesn’t care about what happens to himself as long as everyone is okay.” She says so I say simply “He’ll be fine.” “You don’t know that. He literally almost blew himself up to get you guys out of the CDC.” She says causing me to counter “He’s ex-military he knew what he was doing.” “Exactly my point. He’s a military boy. Loyalty and protect that’s the only things going through his brain.” She says stopping and adding “It’s like he has nothing left in his heart to actually feel happy and cared for. You and Glenn come closest though, he trusts you and Glenn is like a brother to him.” I don’t say anything then and walk in silence thinking about T.

****Lori’s POV****

            I stand outside on the porch leaving the others inside as I wonder if it’ll be kinder to let T die now instead of being torn apart by walkers. When Rick comes outside I say “Maybe this isn’t a world for children anymore.” “Yeah well, we have children. Carl and T are here in this world now.” He says so I say quietly “Maybe they shouldn’t be. Maybe this is how it’s supposed to be.” “You can’t mean that.” He says. I just look at him so he says “Okay. All right. I can understand that thought crossing your mind.” “It didn’t cross my mind, Rick. I can’t stop thinking it. Why do we want them to live in this world? To have this life? So they can see more people torn apart in front of them? So that they can be hungry and scared for however long they have before they…So they can run and run and run and run and then even if they survive they end up-they end up just another animal who doesn’t know anything except survival? If she-if she dies tonight, it ends for her. Tell me why it would be better another way.” I tell him so he asks “What changed?” looking at me. “What?” I ask so he says “Jenner offered us a way out. You asked him to let us keep trying. You begged him. ‘For as long as we can,’ you said. What changed?” “There was a moment the other day-it was just a second but I forgot Jacqui was dead. I turned around, I wanted to tell her something. I almost said her name. It was just a second and then I remembered. But then I realized she didn’t have to see any of it. The highway, the herds, Sophia, Carl and T getting shot-She didn’t…She doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. Hungry. Angry. It hasn’t stopped happening, Rick. It’s like we live with a knife at our throats every second of every day. But Jacqui doesn’t. Not anymore. And then…I thought, ‘Maybe Jenner was right.’” Rick pauses in disbelief before saying “I don’t accept that. I can’t accept that. That man surrendered. It doesn’t matt-it doesn’t matter what he said. None of it. You really think it would be better if T…If we just gave up?” so I say “Tell me why it would be better the other way. Please.” He can’t tell me so I go back inside.

****Rick’s POV****

            Lori, Carl, and I are sitting in the hall when T starts coughing. We run into the room and she’s looking around wildly her eyes land on Carl so she says “Glad you’re okay. You remember the deer?” “Yeah!” Carl says approaching her. She smiles and says “Ask Daryl to teach you to track. Then you could see one again. He’s…” trailing off she looks at the ceiling. “T?” Carl asks. She doesn’t respond so Lori asked “What’s happening?” But T starts convulsing, I go to hold her down but Hershel says “Don’t. It’s a seizure. If you hold her down, you would hurt her.” Moving the pillow as Lori asks “You can’t stop it?” “She has to just go through it.” Hershel says so we step back. Lori and Carl start sobbing so I hug them. T stops convulsing a minute later so we jump to her side as Hershel says “Her brain isn’t getting enough blood. Her pressure is bottoming. She needs another transfusion.” Starting to get the stuff for a transfusion he calls for Beth. She comes running and is rolling up her sleeve saying “The only thing bad about being a universal donner is that you can only get blood from a universal donner.”

****Glenn’s POV****

            I was watching T-Dog get his arm stitched up as I couldn’t stand to see T like that, extremely pale and barely breathing she’s my best friend and like a sister to me. “You got here right in time. This couldn’t go untreated much longer. ‘Merle Dixon.’ Is that you friend with the antibiotics?” Patricia says so I say “No, ma’am. Merle’s no longer with us. Daryl gave us those, his brother.” “Not sure I’d call him a friend.” T-Dog says so she says “He is today. This doxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was taking it for?” “The clap. Um, venereal disease. That’s what Daryl said.” I say. “I’d say Merle Dixon’s clap was the best thing to ever happen to you.” Patricia says so T-Dog says “I’m really trying not to think about that.” As I go out on the porch and sit. I was thinking about how Daryl will react if T doesn’t make it and praying that she did when Maggie asks “Are you praying?” I sigh and ask “Why do you sneak up on people so much?” “You’re easy to sneak up on.” She says sitting on the railing. “I was praying. I was trying to.” I say. “You religious? You pray a lot?” She asks so I say “Actually this was my first try.” “Ever?” she asks. I nod and she says “Wow. Sorry. I didn’t mean to wreck your first time.” “God probably got the gist.” I say so she asks “Praying for what?” “My friends. Looks like they could all use a little help right now.” I sigh before adding “You think-you think God exists?” “I always took it on faith. Lately I’ve wondered. Everything that’s happened, there must have been a lot of praying going on. It seems quite a few went unanswered.” She says so I nod and say “Thanks. This is really helping.” “Sorry. Go ahead. Really.” She says so I look at her, look away, then look back and ask “You gonna watch?” She walks over and says “I’ll get you a refill instead.” She starts walking away but she stops and says “I know it’s not my business, and feel free to believe in God, but the thing is you’ve got to make it okay somehow no matter what happens.” She then goes back inside.

****Daryl’s POV****

            As we were walking something rustles so we head towards it. We come up on a camp site with a walker hanging from the tree. “What the hell?” I ask as Andrea is staring at it as it growls and tries to reach for us. Stepping closer to the tree I read the suicide note on it out loud “Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit.” Stepping away from the tree I add “Dumbass didn’t know enough to shoot himself in the head. Turned himself into a big swinging piece of bait. And a mess.” She groans so I ask “You all right?” “Trying not to puke.” She says so I look at her then back at the walker and say “Go ahead if you gotta.” “No, I’m fine. Let’s just talk about something else for a minute. How’d you learn to shoot?” She says so I say “Gotta eat. That’s one thing these walkers and us have in common. I guess it’s the closest he’s been to food since he turned. Look at ‘em. Hanging up there like a big piñata. The other geeks came and ate all the flesh off his legs.” Causing her to vomit. I look at her as she says “I thought we were changing the subject.” So I say “Call that payback for laughing about my itchy ass.” “There wasn’t a lot that came up.” She says so I say “Huh.” And turn adding “Let’s head back.” “Aren’t you gonna…” She says trailing off so I look at her then it and say “No. He ain’t hurting nobody. Ain’t gonna waste an arrow either. He made his choice. Opted out. Let him hang.” But she walks towards it staring at it so I ask “You want to live now or not?” She looks at me so I add “It’s just a question.” “An answer for an arrow. Fair?” She says, I nod so she says “I don’t know if I want to live or if I have to or if it’s just a habit.” “Not much of an answer.” I say as I shoot the walker in the head and add “Waste of an arrow.” Before walking back without her but she soon catches up.

We walk in silent for a few steps before she asks “If it was T who asked would you say no?” I ignore her so she stops me and says “I’ve seen how you look at him. How you carried him like he would break back at the quarry when Amy died and how you steal glances at him.” “What are you getting at!?” I yell/ask her defensive before I could stop myself. “You wouldn’t hesitate if it was T asking.” She states so I glare at her and state “He wouldn’t need to ask. He’d do it himself.” “You like him. Don’t you?” She asks then. “I care about him.” I admit causing her to say “He does the same with you.” and slaps a hand over her mouth. “What?” I ask her in disbelief so she says “I shouldn’t tell you…but I will. He looks at you the same way you look at him. If you don’t believe me, the next time you see him kiss him. See what happens.” “I will not!” I state before turning to go but pause when she asks “T’s a girl?” “You can’t tell anyone!” I yell at her before I can stop myself again. “Oh god it all makes sense now.” She says causing me to look at her confused so she explains “T doesn’t talk to make it easier to hide the fact that she’s a she. She wears that stupid hat and hoodie as well to help hide it. I knew she was too pretty to be a boy but I figured it was ‘cause she was young.” She pauses then says “Glenn probably knows that’s why he treats her more like a sister than a brother. That’s why he wanted you two to share a room at the CDC and why he wanted T to ride with you. He was trying to get you to realize she was a she and your feelings for her.” “Is everyone trying to get us together?!” I ask/yell remembering the look Rick gave me back at the quarry. She laughs and says “I think so. I know I will now.” I turn and stalk back to the highway as she follows me laughing quietly.

****Rick’s POV****

            “Before it happened we were standing there in the woods and this deer just crossed right in front of us. I swear, it just planted itself there and looked Carl right in the eye. And I looked at Carl looking at that deer, and that deer looking right back at Carl. And that moment just-“I sigh before adding “Slipped away. It slipped away. That’s what she was talking about when she woke up. Not about what happened at the CDC. She talked about something beautiful, something living. There’s still a life for us, a place maybe like this. It isn’t all death out there. It can’t be. We just have to be strong enough after everything we’ve seen to still believe that. Why is it better for T to live even in this world? She talked about the deer, Lori. She talked about the deer.”

            Hershel then came in and checked T’s pulse.  “She’s still losing blood faster than we can replace it. And with the swelling in her abdomen we can’t wait any longer or she’s just going to slip away. Now I need to know right now if you want me to do this, because I think she is out of time. You have to make a choice.” “A choice?” Lori asked so I say “A choice. You have to tell me what it is. You have to tell me what it is.” She puts her hand on my face and looks at Hershel and says “We do it.”

            Just as Hershel was about to do it a truck approaches. Patricia stays with T as we go see who it is. Shane gets out and asks “T?” “There’s still a chance.” I say as Hershel and Glenn take the bags from him. “Otis?” Hershel asks but Shane shakes his head and says “No.” We all are silent until Hershel says “We say nothing to Patricia. Not till after. I need her.” Then he and Glenn run into the house. I hug Shane and he says “They kept blocking us at every turn. We had nothing left. We were down to 10 rounds. Then he said-he said he’d cover me and that I should keep going. So that’s what I did. I just….I kept going. But I….I looked back and he….I tried.” “He wanted to make it right.” I tell him.

****Time skip****

            Lori, Shane, Carl, and I were outside waiting when Hershel comes out and says “She seems to have stabilized.” “Oh god.” I exclaim and hug Hershel as Lori says “I don’t have words.” “I don’t either. Wish I did. How do I tell Patricia about Otis?” Hershel says. I look at Carl and Lori and say “You two go to T. I’ll go with Hershel.” And follow Hershel inside.

****T’s POV****

            I wake up and squeeze the small hand in mine causing Carl to cry “T! You’re okay!” I chuckle so Lori asks “How you feeling?” “Tired.” I say too tired to write. “Then you need to rest.” Lori says. “T you’re awake?” Hershel asks surprised as he walks in the room. I look at him like he was stupid so he adds “Any pain? Fever? Nausea?” “I might have a fever but other than that I’m just tired.” I say slowly so he comes over and feels my forehead. “You have a slight fever, but it should go away in the morning if you rest. Your body is strong but it can only stay that way if you rest when you can.” He says wetting a towel and putting it on my forehead. I yawn and nod so Hershel ushers Carl and Lori out of the room. I stare at the ceiling and for some reason my thoughts drift to Daryl as I fall asleep.

            _I follow the others towards camp as Daryl is yelling “Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let’s stew ‘em up.” “Daryl, just slow up a bit I need to talk to you.” Shane says. He stops walking and asks “About what?” “About Merle. There was a-There was a problem in Atlanta.” Shane tells him walking in front of him so Daryl looks between him and Rick twice before asking “He dead?” “We’re not sure.” Shane says. Angry now Daryl yells “He either is or he ain’t!” Rick walks up to them and says “No easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it.” “Who are you?" Daryl asks/yells at him whipping around. Rick pauses before saying "Rick Grimes." "Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?” Daryl asks him so Rick tells him “Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He’s still there.” “Hold on. Let me process this. You’re saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!” Daryl asks/yells and Rick being stupid just says “Yeah.” Daryl then throws the squirrels at Rick and go to punch him but Shane pushes Daryl down. He pulls out his knife and T-Dog yells “Watch the Knife!” He stands up and tries to stab Rick but I tackle him to the ground taking his knife, place it at his neck, and watch his face calmly a feeling I can’t identify, but shows up anytime I look at Daryl, stirring in my chest “You’d best let me go!” He yells I shake my head and Rick comes over and says “I’d like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?” Daryl doesn’t reply so he asks again “Do you think we can manage that?” looking at me. I nod so Rick then says “Yeah.” So I scoot down to where I’m sitting in Daryl’s lap as he sits up, keeping him from getting up to kick Rick’s ass. “What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others.” Rick says but then T-Dog says “It’s not Rick’s fault. I had the key. I dropped it.” “You couldn’t pick it up?” Daryl asked angry. “Well, I dropped it down a drain.” T-Dog says and Daryl relaxes a little so I get up and offers him a hand. “If that’s supposed to make me feel better it don’t.” he say getting up on his own and starts walking off but he stops when T-Dog says “Well, maybe this will. Look I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn’t get at him. With a padlock.” As I leave, walking over to the van, climb up it, and start fixing the arrows. I look up and see Daryl coming so I grab his knife, hop off the van, and hold it out to him handle first as I look forward not liking the comfortable feeling in my chest when I look at him. He takes it from me carefully as to not cut me so I brush past him and climb back up on the van as he walks away._

_There’s a flash and we’re at the CDC. He pushes me into his truck before getting on top of me as he shuts the door and the CDC explodes shaking the truck.  We’re both breathing heavy as we look at each other after he props himself up. His arms on either side of my head and his legs in-between mine. He quickly gets up and moves over to the driver’s side as I sit up. My heart is racing so I shut my eyes for a second._

            I open them and I’m looking at a ceiling as Daryl asks “T?” I look at him and ask “Daryl?” as rough hands release mine. His posture and face changes for a second before returning to normal as he asks “You okay?” I nod and sit up stretching before looking around the room. Hershel is in the doorway and he says “T, you need to get more rest. You can get up in a few hours.” I glare at him so he says “Or you could get up now, reopen your wounds, and have Beth give you another transfusion.” stepping towards the bed. I then turn the glare towards my wound, take the bandage off, and start poking the spots. I sigh knowing Hershel’s right, it not being the first time I’ve been shot, and hold a hand out to him. He gives me a new bandage so I put it on and look at the door. Glenn is there so he asks “Is it still bad?” I shrug, lay back down, and pull the blanket over my head as I roll on my side, my back towards Daryl trying to forget the dream/memory.

 


	9. I’ve Fallen and I’ve Fallen Hard

****Daryl’s POV****

            I just got off my bike when Rick, Lori, T-Dog, Carl, and some other people I don’t know come out of the house. I keep waiting for T to come out but Dale asks the question I had “Where’s T?” “She’ll pull though, thanks to Hershel and his people.” Lori says and Rick jumps in and says “And Shane. We’d have lost T if not for him.” “T was shot?!” I ask/yell angry. “I’ll take you to her.” Glenn says and starts going into the house so I follow him ignoring everyone else. Coming into a room I see her, she’s so pale I almost think she’s dead, then Glenn says “She jumped in front of Carl, taking most of the shrapnel. Apparently she refused to be helped until Carl was taken care of. It almost killed her.” I go and sit in the chair next to the bed and just stare at her. Glenn leaves so I grab her hand and ask her quietly “Do you even know what you do to me?”

            A few minutes go by and Rick comes in and says “They’re having a funeral for the man who died getting the things needed for her surgery. It’s in a few minutes if you want to come.” before walking back to the door. He pauses at the door and says “She wondered if you’d be sad if she died. Just thought you should know.” Before leaving. ‘Would I be sad? I would, but why would she want to know if I would be?’ I ask myself as I search her face hoping for an answer. Her eyes flutter open and she’s staring at the ceiling. “T?” I ask letting go of her hand. “Daryl?” she asks looking at me, her voice sending a shiver down my back. “You okay?” I ask her. She nods and sits up stretching then looks around the room. That’s when I notice she doesn’t have a shirt on and just a sports bra so I focus on her face remembering what happened in the CDC. “T, you need to get more rest. You can get up in a few hours.” The old guy I assume is Hershel says in the doorway. She glares at him so he says “Or you could get up now, reopen your wounds, and have Beth give you another transfusion.” stepping towards the bed. She then turns the glare towards her wound, takes the bandage off, and starts poking the spots. She then sighs and holds a hand out to Hershel who gives her a new bandage. She puts it on and looks at the door. Glenn is there so he asks “Is it still bad?” She shrugs, lays back down, and pulls the blanket over her head as she rolls on her side, her back towards me.

            I get up then and follow Hershel and Glenn out of the house and towards the funeral. Glenn runs ahead so Hershel says “She’s the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met and I’m raising two girls. Not only that, she seems to have a heart of gold. You’re a very lucky man.” as we walk. “We’re not together.” I say simply so he says a simple “You will be.” as we get to the group so I can’t question what he means. I stand off to the side as the service starts. “Blessed by God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save someone else’s, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace. Shane, will you speak for Otis?” Hershel says. “I’m not good at it. I’m sorry.” Shane says so a woman who was probably Otis’s wife says “You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning.” “Meaning….We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. ‘We’ve got to save the girl.’ See, that’s what he said…He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead.  ‘Run,’ he said. He said, ‘I’ll take the rear. I’ll cover you.’ And when I looked back…” Shane says and starts limping towards the grave adds “If not for Otis, I’d have never made it out alive. And that goes for T, too. It was Otis. He saved us both….If any death ever had meaning, it was his.” I could see that he was lying but everyone else seemed to buy it but Sophia still needs to be found so we have enough problems.

****Yori’s POV****

            “Do you think you could run if you had to?” I ask Sophia in the morning. She nods so I say “Okay let’s head out. It’ll take most of the day but we’ll make it. Come on and climb on.” Kneeling in front of her so she could climb on my back. She climbs on so I stand up and say “If I put you down run in the direction we were heading. Do not hesitate.” “Okay.” She says and I start making my way to the highway.

****Rick’s POV****

            Hershel, Shane, Andrea, Daryl, and I were standing around Carol’s Jeep’s hood as Maggie got the map. “How long has this girl been lost?” Hershel asks so I say “This’ll be day three.” as Maggie comes over with the map, she lays it out on the hood and says “County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations.” “This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized. We’ll grid the whole area, start searching in teams.” I say before Hershel says “Not you. Not today. T’s needs someone other than me to tell her to stay in bed.” Then looking at Shane he adds “And your ankle-push it now, you’ll be laid up a month, no good to anybody.” “Guess it’s just me. I’m gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there.” Daryl says so I nod at him as Shane says “I can still be useful. I’ll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back.” “All right, tomorrow then. We’ll start doing this right.” I say so Shane says “That means we can’t have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we’ve been promising them.” “I’d prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We’ve managed so far without turning this into an armed camp.” Hershel says. “All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here….”Shane starts but I say “Look, we’re guests here. This is your property and we will respect that.” Putting my gun on the car then Shane does so I add “First things first: set camp, find Sophia.” “I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody’s got to. What happens if we find her and she’s bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that.” Shane says looking at me so I say “You do what has to be done.” “And her mother? What do you tell her?” Maggie asks so Andrea says “The truth.” “I’ll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one’s carrying till we’re at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale’s got experience.” Shane says. Hershel doesn’t say anything so I look at him and say “Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun.” He nods so I say “Thank you.” As Daryl and Shane walk away. “That stuff you brought, got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?” Maggie asks so Andrea says “Just what you’ve seen.” Before walking away. “We’re running short already. I should make a run into town.” Maggie tells Hershel so I quickly ask “Not the place Shane went?” “No, there’s a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I’ve done it before.” She answers so I say “See our man there in the baseball cap? That’s Glenn, our go-to-town expert. I’d ask him along just to be cautious.” Looking at Hershel. He nods at Maggie so she goes and talks to Glenn.

            I wait for Daryl outside the house as he tells T what he’s doing. When I see him I call him, he stops and I see T’s dog tags around his neck, so I ask “You okay on your own?” “I’m better on my own. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before dark.” He says starting to walk way so I say “Hey.” He stops again so I add “We got a base. We can get this search properly organized now.” “You got a point or are we just chatting?” he asks so I say “My point is it lets you off the hook. You don’t owe us anything.” He turns and walks away saying “My other plans fell through.” Making me wonder what he was talking about but Hershel comes out then so I say “We could give you more space. Set up over by the barn.” “No, no need for that. Better you stay close to the house. I don’t say this easily, Rick. We don’t normally take in strangers. I can’t have your people thinking this is permanent. Once you find the girl and T’s fit for travel, I expect you’ll move on. We need to be clear on that.” He says and walks away so I give the barn one last look before following him.

****Daryl’s POV****

            When I go in to tell T I’m going to search for Sophia, Lori is in the room so I wait by the door listening to the conversation. “Glenn and Maggie are going to town. What do you need?” Lori asks. There’s silence for a few minutes causing Lori to say “Oh, right. Sorry I forgot.” I walk in then and stand near the bed as T is writing on a piece of paper, she then hands it to Lori and looks at me as Lori says “I’ll give it to Glenn.” Before getting up and leaving the room, but not without giving me a knowing look before leaving. ‘Does everyone know?’ I ask myself looking at T as she tilts her head to the side, her black hair spilling over her shoulder, wondering what I wanted. “I’m going to go look for Sophia.” I say simply causing her to narrow her eyes at me, not glare just narrow. “I’ll be back before dark.” I tell her so she takes off her dog tags and holds them out to me. I just look at them so she moves them forward a bit more indicating for me to take them. I look at her and she’s now frowning so I ask “Why?” causing her to look at the wall. I turn to go but stop when she grabs me and says a simple “Safe.” putting them in my hand. I turn back around and look at her as she’s looking right back at me. She lets go of me as I nod, the places she’s touched still tingling. ‘I’ve fallen and fallen hard, yet she just sees me as a friend. Though I can live with that.’ I think putting the dog tags around my neck before leaving.

            When I’m starting to make my way to look for Sophia, Rick calls me so I stop and look at him. “You okay on your own?” he asks. “I’m better on my own. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before dark.” I reply starting to walk way but he says “Hey.” So I stop again and he adds “We got a base. We can get this search properly organized now.” “You got a point or are we just chatting?” I asks getting annoyed. “My point is it lets you off the hook. You don’t owe us anything.” He says so I turn and walk away saying “My other plans fell through.” Thinking ‘In more ways than one.’

****T’s POV****

            When Daryl leaves I look at the hand that betrayed me. It was still tingling from the contact that made the warm feeling in my chest dance. ‘I’m going stir crazy. Daryl is a friend!’ I think as I rub my face a little. Looking around I decide that I’ve rested enough and get out of bed stretching thinking ‘My wounds shouldn’t open as long as I don’t run too much. Anyway I’m tired of being the only one not doing anything.’ I go to my bag that Lori put on one of the chairs when she came in, find my notebook, put on a tank top figuring that I’m already busted as being a girl so no reason for me to sweat my ass off in a hoodie, and tie my hair up in a ponytail. I walk out of the house, take my bag to Glenn’s tent, and notice Glenn watching Maggie as she’s on a horse and leading one. I walk over to him thinking ‘I might have to find a new spot to sleep if he dreams about her.’ But I hang back when Lori goes up to him scaring him, she’s been acting a little weird so I wanted to see if it was why I thought it was. “Hi. Here’s your list.” She says handing him one list but then starts to get another and adds “And, um, there’s one other item. I wrote it down separately. It’s personal. If we could be real discreet about that, okay?” “Sure.” He says opening the list as she starts to walk away saying “Thank you.” “Uh, what is it?” He asks causing her to say “Kind of missing the point of the whole discreet thing, Glenn.” “Oh, right. Um… I just need to know where to find it.” He tells her. “Try the feminine hygiene section.” She says looking at him causing him to say “Oh. Enough said. Consider it done.” Before she walks away. “What is it?” Glenn asks again when she’s out of hearing range knowing I was there. I step out from behind the tree and take the “list” from him. Reading it I think ‘I knew it, she’s pregnant.’ Handing it back to him I lie and shrug deciding he should find out for himself and handle it without influence from me. “Really?” he asks so I nod causing him to say “Well that’s new.” Before Dale and T-Dog come running saying “There’s a walking in the well.” “That’s new too.” Glenn says quietly before we follow Dale, T-Dog, Lori, Andrea, and Maggie to the well.

            As we all look in the well Dale says “Looks like we’ve got us a swimmer.” As the bloated walker hisses and growls. “How long do you think it’s been down there?” Glenn asks. I shrug as Andrea says “Long enough to grow gills.” “We can’t leave it in there. God knows what it’s doing to the water.” Lori says. “We got to get it out.” Shane says so T-Dog says “Easy. Put a bullet in its head. I’ll get a rope.” “Whoa, whoa, guys. No.” Maggie says causing Glenn to say “Why not? It’s a good plan.” I smack the back of his head as Andrea says “It’s a stupid plan. If that thing hasn’t contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job.” “She’s right. Can’t risk it.” Shane says so T-Dog asks “So it has to come out alive?” “So to speak.” Shane says so Glenn asks “How do we do that?” “Pull it out?” Lori suggests. “Good a plan as any. We’ll need some rope and something to lure it with.” Shane say so T-Dog goes to get some rope as Glenn goes to get a canned ham. As we wait for them to come back I sit on the fence next to Maggie. “So you and that guy Daryl, you guys have a thing right?” She asks suddenly. I shake my head quickly but just thinking about him causes that stupid warm feeling in my chest causing me to look at it confused. She looks at me a moment before she asks quietly “When you guys get married can I be your maid of honor?” I then look at her confused but Glenn and T-Dog come back so I focus on the task at hand.

****Time skip to walker not wanting the ham*****

            “He’s not going for it.” Dale says so T-Dog says “Maybe ‘cause a canned ham don’t kick and scream when you try to eat it.” “He’s right. There’s a reason the dead didn’t come back to life and start raiding our cupboards.” Lori says. “We need live bait.” Andrea says looking at Glenn. I shake my head and raise my hand volunteering. “T your still injured, no.” Lori says but I shake my head and motion that I’m smaller than Glenn. “I don’t like it but she’s right. She’ll be easier to lower down and bring back up then Glenn.” Dale says. They all slowly agree but don’t look happy about it as I tie the rope around me and sit at the edge of the well. Lori hands me a flashlight and Shane says “We’re gonna get you out of here in one piece.” I flip him off tired of people jinxing me so Glenn says “Living piece. The living part is important.” Shane then goes to the front of the rope as Andrea says to me “We got you.” Causing Maggie to say “Oh, you people are crazy.” “You want to get it out of your well or not?” Shane asks so Dale says “Give us an eye there, Maggie.” She walks over and shakes her head at me before I start to get lowered into the well. “Doing okay?” She asks looking down at me. I nod at her before moving the rope for the walking in front of me. Slowly they lower me as Maggie says “Little lower. Little more.” Just then I suddenly jerk forward and they yell “Grab it. Grab it. Grab it.” As I start falling so I try to stop myself but the walls of the well are wet causing no friction. I stop within reaching distance of the walker so I have to stick my legs forward so it can’t grab them as I quickly put the rope around its upper body and Glenn yells “Get her out of there!”  I start climbing the rope as they start pulling me up. Reaching the top I start to pull myself out when they rush forward and pull me out as Lori asks “Are you okay?” patting me down checking for bites. There’re all panting as I nod. “Back to the drawing board.” Dale says as Glenn looks into the well. “Says you.” Glenn says as I hand Dale the rope with the walker on it and walk away figuring they can handle the rest on their own and thinking ‘I’m getting sick and tired of people jinxing me.’

****Daryl’s POV****

            When searching for Sophia I find a clearing with a decent sized cabin in the middle of it. Walking up to the door there’s a note on the door that says “Door has no lock please don’t steal anything.” “That sounds like something Glenn would say.” I say opening the door and slowly check each room with my crossbow ready. Walking into the kitchen I find two recently opened cans of tuna in the trash. Looking up I see a door slightly open so I go over and open it. It’s a pantry but on the bottom there’s an old trunk. I decide to pull it out and open it. Inside are some medical supplies, a few photos, and a couple child’s drawings. The drawings are signed by Sophia so I go out the back door calling for her. Looking ahead I see a couple Cherokee Roses. I pick one and start heading back to camp.

****T’s POV****

            I decide to go with Carol, Shane, and Andrea to the highway to see if Sophia made her way back there. “Sophia stay here we will come every day” is written on a car’s window in big letters so I write in my notebook “Shouldn’t we tell her where we are? Like if someone’s found her?” and turn it around. Carol is the only one to nod so I write a note saying “Sophia stay here if you’re alone. But if you’re with someone have them take you to Greene farm.” And draw a map of how to get there. I stick it on the dash inside the car as Andrea approaches Carol saying “We’ll come again tomorrow. You know there’s always the chance-“ but Carol cuts her off by saying “Don’t. I really don’t need to hear it anymore, Andrea. Save the thoughts and prayer.” After a minute of silence Shane says “You never know Carol.” But she holds out a hand to stop him from saying anything more. After a few more minutes of silence we head back to the farm, me walking a little bit behind the three. When coming to the first fence of the farm Shane says “We can hang targets along that fence line there. That rise, it gives a natural backstop. It’s a good idea.” “Thanks. So how long before I can carry?” Andrea asks so Shane says “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Chuckling. “I’m not in a very patient frame of mind these days, Shane. You might have noticed that.” She says causing him to say “No shit. Look, I ain’t worried about you offing yourself, even though you got old Dale pissing his pants lately.” Chuckling as she looks at him he adds “Yeah, I noticed that, too.” “He did come within a minute or so of being blown to hell because of me, to be fair.” She says so Shane stops walking and says “Look, I see you have the desire for gun work and desire will take you a long way.” She stops so he adds “But something you need to know, so file this carefully.” “I’m listening.” She says so he adds “Paper targets is one thing. Easy to hit what ain’t moving. But taking down an assailant, one that’s trying to kill you, it’s different.” He starts walking again saying “They say in that kind of situation things slow down. That’s crap. They speed up. Adrenalin, ha. It’ll cripple you if you let it. You need to use your instinct. You got to rule it out. Because somebody is going to die and you’d better hope that you’re the one who’s making the decision.” “How? I mean, how do you do that?” She asks as they stop and rest at the fence as Carol and I hang back. “Turn off a switch. The switch. The one that makes you scared or angry, sympathetic, whatever. You don’t think. You just-you act. ‘Cause odds are somebody else is counting on you. That’s your partner. That’s your friend. There ain’t nothing easy about taking a man’s life no matter how little value it may have. But when you get it done, you have to forget it.” He chuckles and adds “I guess I haven’t quite got that last part down yet.” “But you’re getting there?” She asks looking at him. “I hope so.” He says looking at her then moving away from the fence adds “It’s a good spot. It’ll do.” Before starting to walk again. Andrea follows him immediately but Carol looks at me so I nod and she starts walking so I follow her.

****Yori's POV*****

When we got to the highway there wasn't any one there. We found a car with supplies on it and the words “Sophia stay here we will come every day.” Written on it and there was a note inside that said “Sophia stay here if you’re alone. But if you’re with someone have them take you to Greene farm.” And had a drawn map of how to get there. “Let’s stay here for the night then head to Greene farm in the morning.” I tell her. She agrees so I find a van for us to spend the night in.

****T’s POV****

            When Glenn and Maggie get back Glenn seems really happy for some reason and when they stop and Maggie and Hershel go in the house Lori comes out and goes straight to Glenn. He hands her the test and walks away as she hides it. Daryl comes back a few minutes later with a Cherokee Rose and asks where Carol is so I point him to the R.V. He nods and goes into the R.V. so I then go to find Glenn to see what he found. When I get closer he looks at me and grins and says “Close your eyes and hold out your hand.” I do as he says and something soft is placed in my hand as he says “Okay open them.” I open then and blink at the stuffed animal in my hand as he says “I know it’s not as good as the real thing, but I figured it’s the next best thing.” I nod laughing at him causing him to do a victory dance chanting “Who’s the best? Glenn is!” “Why is Glenn the best?” Rick asks coming over to us. “I found a cat for T. It’s not real but it’s the next best thing.” Glenn practically shouts at Rick as he dances around him. “Does he come with an off switch?” T-Dog asks watching Glenn. I shrug as Glenn says “Nope!”

****Time skip****

            It was getting late so I went to get my bag from Glenn’s tent, no way was I sleeping in there with him after he got laid. I opt for the top of the R.V. instead of asking one of the others if I could share with them. I watch as the others finish their dinner and head to their tents. Lori comes out of her, Rick’s, and Carl’s tent a few minutes later and looks around before going into the field. ‘She’s gonna pee on the stick ain’t she?’ I ask myself as I watch her my snooping side coming out to play. She pees on the stick and after a few minutes looks at it and starts crying. I frown as she goes back to her tent thinking ‘Wouldn’t she be happy that she and Rick are having another child?’ I cast it off as her just being worried for its safety in a world like this and go to sleep.

 


	10. I Love Daryl?!

****T’s POV****

            _“I have seen the rain. I have felt the pain. I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow. I don’t know where I’m going I don’t even know where I’ve been. But I know I’d like to see you again.” Sam sings while we suit up, changing the lyrics of “I Have Seen the Rain” by P!nk to fit. I join in with her singing “Spend our days just searching. Spend our nights in dreams. I’ve stopped looking over my shoulder and I’ve stopped wonderin’ what it means.” At this point all of us are singing “Drop out, burn out, soldier ho-oh they’ve said we should’ve been more. Probably so if we hadn’t of been in this crazy damn Afghanistan war.” There’s a knock at the locker room door followed by Yori yelling “You girls need a new song!” “Well at least we don’t need a new brain like you Yori!” Sam yells back, she likes him but he’s too dense to see it, I was too but she told me about it and asked if we were just dense when it came to “love”. Suddenly I’m not in the locker room anymore but in a clearing aiming my bow at the trees. Daryl comes out of the trees and starts yelling “Son of a bitch. That’s my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this…” as he walks over to the walker and starts to kick it adding “Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless proxy bastard!” I look around and notice that I’m back at the first morning of camp as Dale says “Calm down, son. That’s not helping.” Daryl then says while striding towards him “What do you know about it, old man? Why don’t you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?” he turns away and starts to pull out his arrows from the deer adding “I’ve been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?” I turn and start walking away realizing that I’ve been staring at Daryl as Shane says “I would not risk that.” Daryl then sighs and says “That’s a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That’ll have to do.” But then I hear the walker opens its mouth so I quickly spin around and shoot it in the head at the same time as Daryl does as he asks "Come on, people. What the hell? It’s gotta be the brain. Don’t y’all know nothing?” Without noticing I did so he goes to get his arrow but pauses seeing mine as well. Glenn then looks at me and cheers “T one, walker head zero! T the one stop shop of awesomeness has done it again! If he can’t do it no one can!” I glare at him as the others shake their heads at him. As I walk forward to get my arrow back Daryl pulls his and my arrow from the head, wipes them on the ground, and holds mine out to me. I nod as I take it from him and he asks me quietly “Do you even know what you do to me?” I look at him shocked and shake my head as I hear Sam in the back of my head saying “T I can’t believe you’re still so dense. You love him and he loves you.”_

I bolt up and shake my head not believing what I heard Sam tell me. ‘She’s in Europe right now. There’s no way she could know. Besides Daryl would never like someone like me, like that.’ I think before allowing myself to wonder if she and her family were still alive. I look around and notice almost everyone is awake so I stay on top of the R.V. waiting for Rick to organize the search. When the others start coming over to Carol’s Jeep I hop down not bothering with the ladder only to be yelled at by Rick who says “There’s a ladder for a reason.” I ignore him and stand next to Daryl and also ignoring the little voice in the back of my head screaming ‘You love Daryl!’ “All right, everyone’s getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the cabin Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we’ve been so far.” “Cabin?” I write as Beth’s boyfriend says “I’d like to help. I know the area pretty well and stuff.” “Hershel’s okay with this?” Rick asks Jimmy ignoring me so I give up thinking ‘Karma, you are not my friend today.’ “Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you.” The boy says obviously lying. “All right then. Thanks.” Rick says believing him, but Shane says “Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me. Anyone could have been holed up in that cabin.” “Anybody includes her, right?” Andrea asks. “There was drawings signed by ‘Sophia’ in there.” Daryl says, as I look at Andrea questionably as she keeps giving me a weird look. “It’s a good lead.” Andrea says so Rick says “Maybe we’ll pick up her trail again.” “No maybe about it. I’m gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird’s-eye view of the whole grid. If she’s up there, I’ll spot her.” Daryl says as Dale puts the bag of guns on the car. “Good idea. Maybe you’ll see your chupacabra up there, too.” T-Dog says. “Chupacabra?” Rick asks as I tilt my head in question as well now looking at Dale, making a mental note to ask Andrea why she looked at me the way she did. “You never heard this? Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra.” Dale says causing Jimmy to laugh. “What are you braying at, jackass?” Daryl asks him. “So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?” Jimmy asks so Daryl counters with “Do you believe dead people walking around?” so I clap silently, approving of the burn. Jimmy then reaches for one of the guns but Rick stops him asking “Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?” “Well, if I’m going out, I want one.” Jimmy says so Daryl says “Yeah, and people in hell want Slurpees.” Before walking away, giving me a quick glance but quickly looking away and continue walking away when I tilt my head at him.

            I shrug and Jimmy starts to go so Shane says “Why don’t you come train tomorrow. If you’re serious, I’m a certified instructor.” “For now he can come with us.” Andrea says so Shane says “He’s yours to babysit then.” Motioning for Jimmy to come back. “T you’re going with Dale and Jimmy here.” Rick tells me then adds “Shane and I will be here and Andrea, T-Dog you’re here.” They start to get their weapons before we get our “flags” to mark the trees and head out. I opt for just having my knife preferring to be quiet and to be able to move without worrying about my bow getting caught on something.

****Yori’s POV****

            I woke up before Sophia so I get out of the van and lean against it watching the road. A few trucks were approaching so I made sure Sophia was hidden before pretending to look inside the cars. One of the trucks stopped while the others continued on. A guy who give off a bad aura gets out asking “Hey, man you alone?” “Yes. I like it that way.” I reply continuing my pretend search praying that Sophia doesn’t wake up right now. “You sure? We could use a man like you.” He says stepping closer trying to be friendly but failing. “I’m sure, besides I only got one leg.” I say looking at him hiding my emotions. His face turns to that of disgust and says “Just start with that next time.” before getting back in the truck and driving away. “Well that went better than I expected.” I say to myself shrugging before Sophia wakes up. “Yori?!” she calls scared. “Here, outside. Come on, if we want to make it to the farm by dark we have to leave now.” I tell her. She gets out of the van so I walk over and bend down so she can climb on my back again. She does so I start walking towards the farm.

****Daryl’s POV****

            I’m hunting squirrels as I look for Sophia. I see something in the creek so I stop the horse. I get off and tie it to a tree before I slowly my way down the hill to the creek. Getting closer to the thing I notice that it’s Sophia’s doll so I look around calling for her. After a minute or so I climb back up the hill and get back on the horse. Walking a few steps the horse gets scared by birds flying by so I say “Whoa. Easy, easy.” When it calms down I have it start walking again. It goes only a few more steps before a snake jumps out at it scaring it and causing it to buck me off. I roll down a ridge as it runs off. When I reach the bottom, and in the shallow water, I say “Son of a bitch.” Noticing that I’ve been impaled by one of my arrows. I slowly make my way to one of the dry spots and use my knife to rip off one of my sleeves but just rip off the other with my hands. I tie them together then wrap them around my chest to keep the arrow in place. I secure the tourniquet, put my knife back, and look to see that I’ve fallen into a valley. Bushes rustle so I reach for my crossbow but realize it’s not there. I grab a stick and start searching the water for it with it. I finally find it and start making my way up the ridge. I get half way up the ridge and throw away the stick and tell myself “Oh, come on. You’ve done half. Stop being such a pussy.” So I go and grab a rock but it falls and thus causing me to fall and get knocked out when I hit the bottom.

****T’s POV****

            I’ve had this bad feeling for a few minutes now as I follow Dale and Jimmy. But I ignore it as I split off from them when they start heading back as we had the smallest grid. They don’t notice that I split off from them so I look for some tracks. I find horse tracks but no people tracks walker or otherwise. I remember that Daryl took one of the horses from the farm so they must be from that as they are fresh. I shake my head as I suddenly feel happy thinking about Daryl, successfully shaking the happy feeling away. “T, there you are. Dale was worried about you.” Shane says from behind me making me jump. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He says putting a hand on my shoulder before adding “Come on back to camp, it’s getting late.” His hand makes my skin crawl so I step away from him nodding but looking in the direction Daryl went, thinking ‘T stop…He’ll be fine.’ with that bad feeling rising again. I turn and start walking back to camp without waiting for Shane as I try to ignore the feeling, again.

****Daryl’s POV****

            Waking up a little I see Merle. “Why don’t you pull that arrow out, dummy? You could bind your wound better.” He tells me so I say “Merle.” “What’s going on here? You taking a siesta or something?” He asks so I say “A shitty day, bro.” “Like me to get your pillow? Maybe rub your feet?” He asks so I say “Screw you.” “Huh-uh. You’re the one screwed from the looks of it. All them years I spent trying to make a man of you, this is what I get? Look at you. Lying in the dirt like a used rubber. You’re gonna die out here, little brother. And for what?” He says so I say “A girl. They lost a little girl.” “So you got a thing for little girls now?” He asks so I tell him “Shut up.” But he says “’Cause I notice you ain’t out looking for old Merle no more.” “Tried like hell to find you, bro.” I say but he says “Like hell you did. You split, man. Lit out first chance you got.” “You lit out. All you had to do was wait. We went back for you. Rick, T, and I, we did right by you.” I say. “This the same Rick that cuffed me to the rooftop in the first place? Forced me to cut off my own hand? This him we’re talking about here? You his bitch now?” He asks so I say “I ain’t nobody’s bitch.” “You’re a joke is what you are, playing errand boy to a bunch of pansy-asses, niggers, and democrats.” He says chuckling then adds “You’re nothing but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That’s all you are. They’re laughing at you behind your back. You know that, don’t you? I got a little news for you, son. One of these days, they’re gonna scrape you off their heels like you was dogshit. Hey. They ain’t your kin, your blood. Hell, you had any damn nuts in that sack of yours, you’d go back there and shoot your pal Rick in the face for me. Now you listen to me. Ain’t nobody ever gonna care about you except me, little brother. Ain’t nobody ever will, especially that mute girl. Come on, get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in.” Standing up he starts kicking my foot adding “Come on.” shaking me. I wake up more and hear growling I look down and see a walker trying to bite through my boot. I kick its head and reach for my crossbow but it recovers quickly and climbs on top of me so hold it back and punch it twice knocking it over, but it takes me with it so I roll and throw it off. I grab a branch and stand up as it stands up and another starts coming towards me. I take out the closer ones legs, jump on top of it, and start beating its face in with the branch before stabbing it in the head killing it. The other one is coming closer so I rip the arrow out of my side and quickly strain to ready my crossbow. I get it just as it gets to me so I quickly aim and fire hitting it in the head. It falls next to me and I sigh in relief and start panting before passing out again.

Waking up again I sit up and look at the two dead walkers. I then take off my shirt and fold it up and press it on my wound before securing it there with the torn off sleeves. “Son of a bitch was right.” I say picking up my crossbow before getting up and start to skin a squirrel. I eat it before going over to the doll, pick it up, and tuck it under my belt. Then I take the shoelaces off the walkers, cut off their ears, and make a necklace with them. I pause and put T's dog tags in my pocket before putting it on and start climbing the ridge again. I’m almost to the top when birds screech above so I look at them as they circle me. “Please, don’t feed the birds.” Merle says on top of the ridge so I look at him and he starts laughing adding “What’s the matter, Darylina? That all you got in you? Throw away that purse and climb.” “I liked it better when you was missing.” I tell him. Laughing he says “Come on, don’t be like that. I’m on your side.” “Yeah? Since when?” I ask. “Hell, since the day you were born, baby brother. Somebody had to look after your worthless ass.” He says. “You never took care of me. You talk a big game, but you was never there. Hell, you ain’t here now. Some things never change.” I say as I try to find a way to make it the rest of the way up. “Well, I’ll tell you what-I’m as real as your chupacabra.” He says. “I know what I saw.” I say before he asks “And I’m sure them shrooms you ate had nothing to do with it, right? You know what, I think that little mute girl-” “You best shut the hell up!” I yell at him cutting him off, so he says “Or what? You’re gonna come up here and shut my mouth for me? Well, come on and do it them, if you think you’re man enough.” Laughing he adds “Hey, kick off them damn high heels and climb, son.” I start climbing again as he says “If I were you, I’d take a pause for the cause, brother. ‘Cause I just don’t think you’re gonna make it to the top. Come on. Come on, little brother. Grab your friend Rick’s hand.” I make it to the top and pull myself up panting and looking around but Merle is nowhere. So I say “Yeah, you’d better run.” Before making my way back to camp and back to T.

****T’s POV****

            I’m sitting in the R.V. with Glenn, drawing Sam hoping that she was okay. “What’s with the Annie Oakley routine?” Dale asks Andrea outside the R.V. as she went up there when he left. “I don’t want to wash clothes anymore, Dale. I want to help keep the camp safe. Is that all right with you?” she says so Glenn says “And I want to be able to understand women.” I look at him questioning but he adds “You I get, the others not so much.” I shrug as Dale comes in. Glenn looks at him and says “Sorry. Just returning your book.” Pointing to the book in his hands. “Oh, no, I’m sorry.” Dale says picking up the book and tosses it on the table adding “If I had known the world was ending, I’d have brought better books.” Before walking into the back of the R.V. Glenn then gets up and asks quietly “Dale, you think Andrea’s on her period?” Dale holds up a hand but Glenn adds “I’m only asking ‘cause it’s like all the women are acting really weird. And I read somewhere that when women spend a lot of time together, their cycles line up and they all get super crazy hormonal at the same time.” Dale holds his hand up again and says “I’m gonna advise you to keep that theory to yourself.” Before looking at me so I shrug not caring. “Yeah.” Glenn says so Dale asks “Who else is acting weird?” Glenn sits back down and thinks for a minute before saying “Maggie.” “Ah, Maggie.” Dale says knowingly so Glenn starts explaining “She started off being mean to me. Then she wanted to have sex with me. And now she’s being mean to me again. And I don’t even want to know what’s going on with Lori.” “What’s going on with Lori?” Dale asks so Glenn looks at me, I shrug so he says “Nothing. I don’t know.” “All right, let’s take this back a step. How do you know that Maggie wanted to have sex with you?” Dale asks. Glenn just looks at him smiling so Dale says “Oh, son, you didn’t.” Glenn chuckles so Dale adds “Did it ever occur to you how her father might feel about this?” “She’s 22.” Glenn states so Dale says “And he is our host.”  “He doesn’t know.” Glenn says then so Dale says “Well, see that it stays that way. Jesus, Glenn what were you thinking?” “I was thinking that I might be dead tomorrow.” Glenn says sadly before getting up and adding “Thanks for the book. You’re right, it sucks.” Walking out of the R.V. “Walker. Walker!” Andrea then yells from on top of the R.V. so I rush out past Dale as Rick comes up asking “Just the one?” She looks through the binoculars and says “I bet I can nail it from here.” “No, no, Andrea. Put the gun down.”  Rick says as the guys get their weapons and I start walking towards the walker. “You’d best let us handle this.” Shane says so Rick says “Shane, hold up. Hershel wants to deal with walkers.” “What for, man? We got it covered.” Shane says catching up to me. I speed up to get away from him as Rick catches up and does the same. I falter as I see who the walker was. Rick points his gun at him as Glenn asks “Is that Daryl?” “That’s the third time you’ve pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?” Daryl says so I start to walk towards him to help him as Rick lowers his gun. Then it happens, almost in slow motion, gunshot, my heart stops as Daryl falls, and I can’t stop myself from screaming “Daryl!” as I run to him.

****Rick’s POV****

            When we get to the walker I point my gun at it as Glenn asks “Is that Daryl?” “That’s the third time you’ve pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?” Daryl says so I lower my gun and T starts walking towards him concern showing slightly on her face. Andrea shoots and T screams his name as she runs to him. She puts pressure on him wound as her face actually showing emotions from affection to fear. Shane and I take him from her as he says “I was kidding.” Before passing out. Andrea and Dale are running towards us as we start heading back. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God, is he dead?” Andrea asks as T silently follows us, obviously fighting with her feelings. “Unconscious. You just grazed him.” I answer Andrea before Glenn says “But look at him. What the hell happened? He’s wearing ears.” I rip them off and say “Let’s keep that to ourselves.” As I hide them. “Guys, isn’t this Sophia’s?” T-dog asks so we pause and look at him.

****Time skip****

            As Hershel stitched Daryl up Shane asks “Where’d you get the doll?” sitting in a chair in the room as I sit by the bed with the map. “I found it washed up on the creek bed right there. She must have dropped it crossing there somewhere.” He says pointing to the area before holding the rag to his head again. I look at Shane and say “Cuts the grid almost in half.” “Yeah, you’re welcome.” Daryl says. “How’s he looking?” I ask Hershel. “I had no idea we’d be going through the antibiotics so quickly. Any idea what happened to my horse?” Hershel says finishing up and washing his hands in the bowl of water. “Yeah, the one who almost killed me? If it’s smart, it left the country.” Daryl says. “We call that one Nelly, as in nervous Nelly. I could have told you she’d throw you if you’d bothered to ask. It’s a wonder you people have survived this long.” Hershel says walking towards me before he adds “Go now. He needs to rest a bit.” Shane and I nod and leave the room.

****Daryl’s POV****

            Shane and Rick leaves so Hershel turns to me and says “It’s not my place to say this-“ “Then why are you?” I ask angry cutting him off, my heart aching as I keep hearing T scream my name. He glares at me and asks “Do you still hear her scream for you?” I look at him shocked so he says “T, she’s a strong girl but right now she’s not. She was slapped in the face with her feelings for you the moment Andrea shot you.” “What you getting at?” I ask angry again. “Daryl, you got past her walls without her even knowing. Just like she did with you. Don’t deny it, I’ve seen how you look at her. Now…you need to tell her how you feel.” He says sternly before leaving. I debate for a while trying to figure out how to tell T I love her.

****T’s POV****

            I was walking in the woods after Rick told me Daryl would be fine, needing to be alone. ‘Sam, if you can hear me somehow, I just want you to know that you were right. I’m dense when it comes to love. It took him almost dying for me to accept the fact that I loved him. Though you’re still wrong when it comes to him liking me.’ I tell her in my head hoping she could hear me. A branch breaks behind me so I quickly turn around my hand ready to grab my knife. Rick comes out and says “There you are. Dinners about done, Carol asked me to find you.” I nod and follow him back.

            Glenn, Maggie, Beth, Jimmy, and I all have to sit at the “kids” table. We’re all eating when Glenn suddenly asks “Does anybody know how to play guitar?” I sigh but he ignores me as he adds “Dale found a cool one. Somebody’s got to know how to play” Everyone is silent till Patricia says “Otis did.” “Yes, and he was very good, too.” Hershel tells her before everyone starts eating again. I get up and go look for it then no one noticing that I left. As I’m looking I see something coming down the drive. I walk closer and they stop and put something down. The something is a child that runs to me limping and crying. “Sophia.” I say breathless as she runs into me hugging me. “Glad I get a welcome back too.” Yori says faking hurt as he comes closer. “Yori?” I ask not believing it. He nods as he smirks saying “You didn’t think I was dead now did you? You should know by now that I’m awesome!” I shake my head at him as I hug him. Suddenly Yori asks “Who’s this Daryl Sophia keeps telling me about?” Sophia laughs as I look at him in shock. “Well, come on girls and point him out to me.” He says before grabbing mine and Sophia’s hand dragging us to the house. Sophia keeps laughing as I dig my feet in the ground which only caused Yori to pull me forward and pick me up before holding me under his arm. I curse myself for being so light as he keeps walking without hindrance.

****Daryl’s POV****

            The door opens so I look and see that it was Carol so I pull the blanket up as she asks “How are you feeling?” before setting the tray on the bedside table. “As good as I look.” I tell her so she says “I brought you some dinner. You must be starving.” I turn a little to look at her then at it and she leans in and kisses me on the head. I look at her before saying “Watch out. I got stitches.” She pauses before saying “You need to know something.” I look at her so she adds “You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life.” “I didn’t do anything Rick, T, or Shane wouldn’t have done.” I say so she says “I know. You’re every bit as good as them. Every bit.” Before leaving.

            A few minutes go by before a door slams open and a guy yells “Is this yours?” “Sophia!” Carol yells as Sophia yells “Mom!” I get out of bed and slowly make my way to the stairs. When I get there everyone is hugging Sophia and thanking the guy who has T tucked under his arm just hanging there. She’s not struggling so I look closer at the guy and see the resemblance between the two while remembering the drawing she made of him. He’s looking around at everyone and suddenly looks up at me. He studies me a bit before smirking and putting T down he says “Name’s Yori and I’m related to that thing.” pointing at T who smacks him like she does Glenn. I then turn and go back to the room. A few minutes go by and the noise dies down. Then the door to the room opens as Yori says “You must be Daryl.” “What do you want?” I ask him annoyed as he shuts the door walking into the room. His face changes from friendly to threatening as he asks “Do you love my sister?” I don’t say anything and look at him daring him to try something. “Look, I just don’t want her to get hurt.” He says friendly again. “Neither do I.” I counter so he accuses “She’s not some toy you can just throw away when it gets boring or when it is broken.” “I know that!” I yell angry causing him to say “You don’t.” I go to say something but he holds up a hand and adds “I know she hasn’t told you so I’m going to. When she was ten and I was already in the army our parents were murdered in front of her. The people responsible then took her and sold her into sex slavery. She was there for two years before she managed to escape. She was half dead when she walked into the E.R. and was in the hospital for a year. She then trained and joined the military when she was eighteen. We were in Special Forces for a year before I lost my leg and she decided that others came before her. A year goes by before she ends up getting captured. She sliced her own throat to prevent them from using her to get to the others. She can’t forget anything she hears, feels, or sees and she can copy it exactly, it’s what saved her this whole time.” I look at him shocked so he accuses “Do you still love her?” “I do.” I tell him immediately. He looks at me relieved before saying “Then do me a favor, don’t get killed and tell her you do.” He walks to the door and adds “Also just remember I don’t have any qualms about killing others. Especially those who hurt my little sister.” smiling at me before leaving.

 


	11. Chapter 11-You’re Sort of Stupid

****T’s POV****

            I wake up before the others so I decide to go look for Nelly. I find her grazing in a clearing only a few yards away from the edge of the forest. I nicker at her, instead of going to her knowing she was skittish, causing her to look at me and study me. Seeing I’m not a threat she trots over. I pat her neck as I check her for injuries. She doesn’t have any so I pull myself up and sit in the saddle. I then pat her neck again before taping her sides causing her to start walking back towards camp. When we emerge from the woods I see Patricia wheeling a wheelbarrow towards the barn. I stop Nelly as she’s starting to get nervous and pat her neck calming her. Patricia stops and looks at me so I nod at her before taping Nelly’s sides again and leading her to the stables.

            “I’ve never seen Nelly so calm before.” Hershel says surprised as I slide off Nelly. I shrug as I lead Nelly to him. Handing her to him, I turn to walk away but he asks “Could you keep her calm while I check her over?” I nod, grab a brush, and start brushing her as he undoes her saddle and starts checking her over.

****Yori’s POV****

            Daryl’s poking holes in his tents mesh as he has to stay resting, orders from both Hershel and Tia. “Hey.” Andrea says approaching before saying it again stepping into the tent adding “This is not that great, but…” handing Daryl a book. He flips through it and asks “What, no pictures?” I hold back a laugh as Andrea says “I’m so sorry. I feel like shit.” “Yeah, you and me both.” He says so she says “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but if there’s anything I can do…” “You were trying to protect the group. We’re good.” He tells her so she starts to leave. When she’s out of the tent he adds “But, hey, shoot me again, you’d best pray I’m dead.” She smiles at him before leaving.

            “Have you seen her naked?” I ask him after she’s out of range. “What are you getting at?” He asks me defensive. I look at him through the mesh and notice that T’s dog tags are around his neck, so I say “I was talking about Andrea not _my sister_.” emphasizing ‘my sister’. “No.” he says then not looking at me so I say knowingly “But you saw Tia.” “I didn’t mean to.” He quickly admits truthfully so I ask “Does she know?” “I don’t know.” He says so I say “You’re sort of stupid.” He grumbles so I add “You never tell a girl’s brother that you saw her naked without her permission. But don’t worry, I like your honesty and surprisingly you. Though if it happens again I can’t promise anything.” before walking off wondering where Tia went.

            But Rick, Jimmy, and Shane were huddled around a car hood so I walk over. “What’s in this area?” Rick asks pointing to a spot on the map. “A housing development. It went in maybe 10 years ago.” Jimmy says so I say “That’s where our friend Sam’s family lives.” Rick looks at me before looking at Shane and saying “Take a run up there after gun practice, see if they’re still there. I’ll hold down the fort here, but take backup. After what went down with Daryl, I don’t want anyone going out alone. We stay in pairs.” Glenn walks up then so I say “Hey mini me.” And grab a peach from the basket he has as Shane says “I’ll take suggestions on a partner.” “See how they do on the range, then take your pick.” Rick says as he and Shane take a peach from Glenn. Glenn then walks over to Jimmy and he takes one saying thanks as Glenn is looking between Rick and Lori. “My binoculars.” Shane says causing Glenn to say “Yeah, yeah.” And hand them to him before picking the basket back up and saying “Okay, bye.” as he walks off. Rick and Shane chuckle at him as Beth and Patricia make their way to us. Knowing what they wanted I walked away the way Glenn went.

            The others are getting ready to go for shooting practice so Shane asks “You coming?” “I gotta help Dale clean the spark plugs on the RV. He said he’s gonna teach me mechanics. I should probably go look for him.” Glenn says so Dale says, from behind us, “You found me.” Glenn looks at him so he looks at Shane and says “He’s a good learner.” Shane accepts that and asks “Yori?” “I gotta fix my prosthetic before it stops working.” I tell him so he shuts the trunk of the car and asks “What’s Sam’s family’s names?” “Susan and Shawn Summers are her parents and Sarah is her little sister.” I tell him so he gets in the car and drives off. Glenn and Dale wave at them then Dale asks “Spark plugs, huh? What to tell me what’s going on?” so I add “Yeah, Glenn you’re not a good liar.” Glenn looks at us before getting closer and saying “You guys-you know things. So what if somebody told you something that somebody else should know?” “Glenn, stop being dramatic. Spit it out.” Dale tells him so he says “There’s-there’s walkers in the barn and Lori’s pregnant.” “I’ll talk to Hershel.” Dale says leaving so Glenn looks at me and I tell him “It’ll be fine, mini me.”

****T’s POV****

            Hershel is almost done checking Nelly when Dale comes in and says “Nervous Nelly. She find her way home?” “T found her and brought her back this morning.” Hershel says as Dale feeds Nelly some hay. “I love your fields. Took a long walk this morning. I ended up by the barn. I heard the moans.” Dale says then. I look at Hershel and he says “That’s unfortunate.” “I’m sure you have your reasons for keeping this a secret.” Dale says so Hershel says “I saw the broadcasts before they stopped, saw the irrational fear, the atrocities, like the incident at my well.” Dale then says “We put down a walker.” I shake my head at Hershel as he says “You killed a person.” “Well, if you watched the same broadcasts I did, you saw walkers attack, kill. They’re dangerous.” Dale says so Hershel says “A paranoid schizophrenic is dangerous, too. We don’t shoot sick people.” “With all due respect, you are cut off from the outside world here. But I’ve seen people that I cared about die and come back, and they’re not people.” Dale says causing Hershel to say “My wife and stepson are in that barn. They’re people.” “I’m sorry. Let me help. I’ll speak to Rick. He’s a good man. We can make the barn more secure, keep everybody safe.” Dale says causing Hershel to say “The barn is secure. Keep this to yourselves if you want to help. Rick is a man of conscience, but are you so sure about everyone in your group?”

****Time skip****

            The group came back from the shooting range except for Shane and Andrea as I come out of the stable with Dale. I look at Rick and he says “They went to see if Sam’s family were still in their home.” I nod and go find Yori. He’s sitting next to Daryl who’s cleaning his crossbow as Yori is trying to fix his prosthetic and I silently curse the heavens for not allowing me to avoid Daryl like I want. “You have something to fix it?” Yori asks me handing it to me after I get close. Only some of the screws in the joints are lose so I nod and hand it back to him before jogging to the R.V. Dale is on top and looks at me so I pat my back indicating that I wanted my bag that was up there. “The whole thing?” he asks walking over to it and picking it up. I nod so he hands it down to me and I nod at him again before going back over to Yori and Daryl. I sit next to Yori and start digging in my bag for the kit. “You are a hoarder.” Yori tells me as I find it and hand it to him. “Coming from the guy who is using something that I have.” I sign at him just to piss him off. I start shoving the stuff back down in the bag, forcing myself to not look at Daryl, as Yori grumbles fixing the joints.

            Glenn comes over then and says “T, I need you to help me find something in town.” I nod and take my bag back to the R.V. as Glenn talked to Maggie about borrowing a horse. I climb on top of the R.V., grab my bow and quiver, but my bag back, and hop off before heading to the stables. Maggie was having trouble with Nelly so I go over and calm her down. “Dad was right. You are good with Nelly.” She tells me breathless. I nod and start to saddle Nelly. Maggie then goes and gets on her horse and holds on to the lead for Glenn’s horse waiting for me to get on Nelly. After making sure the saddle was on right I pulled myself up and sit in the saddle. Maggie then urges her horse to go and leads Glenn’s out of the stable and I follow her on Nelly.

****Yori’s POV****

            Tia leaves with Glenn to go into town so I glance at Daryl who is watching her walk away. “Daryl, you’re staring.” I tell him causing him to quickly look away so I ask “You don’t know how to tell her, do you?” He mumbles something so I shrug and say “She doesn’t either. The closest she got was giving you her dog tags. Though at that time I’m sure she hadn’t quite figured it out yet.” He looks at the tags then so I add “I’m sure everyone knew before you two did.” He looks at me shocked as I hit the nail on the head so I sigh and say “Daryl, you got past her walls without her even knowing. Just like she did with you. Give her time, she’ll come around.” He blinks so I ask “Did I say something strange?” “Hershel told me the same thing.” He says so I laugh and say “I stole it from Sam. It’s what she told me before she left.” “Sam?” He asks studying me so I say “Samantha Summers, she’s my fiancée and Tia’s best friend. Her family lives not too far from here, Shane and Andrea went to see if they were still there.” “Where is she?” He asks so I say “Well, before the outbreak she was in Europe so I don’t know if she’s still there or if she’s even still alive.” I must have sounded pathetic as he then asks “How’d you meet?” “She was in Tia’s squad.” I tell him so he says “If that’s the case I’m sure she’s fine.” I look at him shocked before saying “That was unexpected.” He grumbles before getting up with his crossbow and heading into the woods. ‘You found yourself a good one sis. Though I don’t think he knows it.’ I tell her in my head before going off to visit with Sophia and Carl.

****Andrea’s POV****

            I was walking back to camp pissed off at what Shane said about Amy when he drives up slowly and says “Come on, let me give you a lift.” So I counter “My feet work just fine.” And keep walking. He pulls in front of me and gets out saying “Look, I’m just trying to get you rattled, give you an idea what it’s like when the shit starts to fly.” Still walking I ask angry “Is that an apology?” he follows me and says “I crossed the line when I brought Amy into it. Yeah, it’s an apology.” I stop and look at him saying “You’re a real dick sometimes.” So he says “Yeah, I acknowledge that. I’ll tell you what: I’ve got a lead on some friends of Yori’s and T’s. I’m gonna go check it out. Why don’t you come with me, be my backup?” Looking down I think ‘This could be my apology to T for shooting Daryl if we find them or a lead about where they went.’ I look at Shane and nod so he says “Come on.” Before walking back to the car so I follow him.

****T’s POV****

We meet up with Glenn at the drive and he got on his horse. We start going again and when we’re almost to the road he says to Maggie “You didn’t have to come. You could hate me from a distance.” She doesn’t say anything so he adds “Please say something.” She ignores him so he drops the topic till we get to town and starts to say “Maggie, I-“ but she cuts him off by saying “I asked for your trust and you betrayed it. Now my dad’s pissed at me. Your turn.” “So your dad thinks they’re sick? You agree with that even after what you saw at the well?” he asks but she says “I’m not sure what I saw at the well.” “Yes, you are.” Glenn says as we stop at the store and get off the horses. We start tying them up when Glenn continues “Look, if you’d seen Atlanta, you would not have a barn full of walkers.” So she says angry “I wish you’d stop calling them that.” “What do you call them?” Glenn asks so Maggie says “Mom, Shawn, Mr. and Mrs. Fischer, Lacey, Duncan.” before going into the store. I follow her as Glenn finishes tying up his horse. When he comes in she asks “What does she want now?” “I can’t say.” Glenn says so Maggie says in disbelief “So when one of them asks you to keep your mouth shut…” but he cuts her off by handing her the list saying “Crawl out of my butt and help me look, please.” She reads it then hands it to me before walking to the Pharmacy section saying “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I read it as Glenn gets other things and follow Maggie. I go to the other side and she stays in the beginning. We look for a minute before a walker grabs her arm through the shelves. “Help! Glenn, T, help! Oh, God!” she yells as I rush over to her and take out one that was going for her from her side as Glenn yells “Maggie!” grabbing a shelf and running towards the walker that had Maggie. As I take out another one Glenn hits the one that had Maggie causing it to become partially decapitated. He rushes to her asking “Did it get you? Did it bite you?” before hugging her. “Glenn!” she yells as the walker gets up so I take it out with an arrow. It falls so she hugs him tighter as I check around for more pulling my arrows out from the heads. I find where they came in by an open back door with a fresh and very devoured body. I close the door and take the body’s pack and search its pockets after stabbing it in the head with my knife. It may not have reanimated without me doing that but better safe than sorry. I take what was useful from their pockets and put the rest back and look for its weapon if it even had one. I find a pipe that had rolled away from it causing its painful death by walkers and leave it as it’s a useless weapon. We find what we need and head back. When we get back Maggie, Glenn, and I put the horses away before Maggie storms off with the bag of stuff from the store with Glenn following close behind her. I just hand the bag I got from to body to Yori, as he needs one, and head to the woods knowing the “show down” was about to happen between Maggie and Lori.

****Glenn’s POV****

            I follow Maggie after she “attacked” Lori and say “That was not cool.” “Which part? The part where that bitch almost got us killed?” She asks so I say “T and I should’ve gone by ourselves. If you want to blame anybody, blame me.” “Right, take the blame. You know, for a smart guy, you’re really stupid.” She says so I say “Okay, I’m confused, because I think you just paid me a compliment, but you made it s-“ but she cuts me off by kissing me. “I’ve already lost three of the people that I care about most in this world.” She says so I say “Maggie-“ but she cuts me off and adds “Shut up. You two are smart, brave, and a leader. But you don’t know it, your friends don’t want to know it, and T doesn’t want to be. They’d rather have you fetching peaches. There’s a dead guy in the well? Send Glenn or T down. You’re walker bait to them, except for T. She’d rather it be her instead. She and I can’t take you becoming one of them.” Before walking away. I stand there stunned at confused for a few minutes before going to look for T to see if what Maggie said was right. I can’t find her so I go to talk to Lori.

****Andrea’s POV****

            Diving into the neighborhood it doesn’t seem to have that much destruction or dead bodies around so I think ‘They might still be here and alive.’ Shane stops the car so we get out and start walking towards the houses. “We’re gonna have to go house to house. We’ll start at the far end and we’ll work our way back.” Shane says so I say “With it looking like this they might still be here, don’t you think.” He looks at me strangely before we start checking the houses. We get to the middle house and Shane kicks in the door so I call “Sarah? Mr. and Ms. Summers? Anyone?” “Shh, shh, shh.” Shane says quietly so I start searching and call quieter “Sarah? Mr. and Ms. Summers?” In the kitchen and looking at the walled off hallway I ask Shane “They walled off the hallway?” “They tried to make a stand here.” He says quietly before going through the hole in the wall. I follow him and call for just Sarah hoping they hid her somewhere. We get to the garage and see decomposing bodies. On the wall there is a whiteboard with a map and the words ‘Green Farm’ over it. Shane takes off his hat and looks at the bodies. “Sarah’s not here. There’s no child’s body. They could have had her escape from under the garage door. And had her go to Green Farm.” I say pointing at the whiteboard and seeing that the door was open enough for someone to crawl under. Just then walkers snarl so Shane looks under the door, quickly turns, and says quickly and quietly “Come on, let’s move.” Before heading back the way we came. I follow him and when we get out of the house there are scattered walkers everywhere so he says “Cover that street. I’ll clear the car.” Before he starts shooting. I try to shoot them but I just hit their bodies then my gun jams so I say “Oh, shit.” And try to undo the jam. Shane shoots the closest walker and says “Focus now. Clear the jam. Focus.” As another walker is coming. It’s getting closer so I look at him but he lowers his gun so I say “Are you kidding me?” but he says “I got your back. Now go.” I look at the walker and actually shoot it in the head. Something clicks so I aim at the others and start taking them down as Shane says “Andrea, Andrea, let’s go. Come on.” I follow him but stop at the hood of the car and aim as he says “Andrea, come on.” But I ignore him and start taking them down again.

****T’s POV****

            I was sitting by the creek and thinking ‘Sarah was a fast runner I’m sure she out run the walkers if she had to. But would she come with Andrea and Shane?’ A branch snaps behind me so I quickly aim my bow in that direction. Daryl steps out of the trees and seems surprised when he sees me so I lower my bow and turn back to the creek, cursing the heavens again. I hear him make his way over from behind me and sit beside me asking “What are you doing?” I shake my head so he says quietly “Stupid.” Scolding himself for some reason so I look at him confused, pushing away the thought of touching him scolding myself as well but in my head ‘T get a hold of yourself. Daryl sees you as a friend nothing more and never will.’ He looks away from me and says “Sorry, I forgot.” I hum quietly and turn my attention back to the water, it’s then that I notice something shining in it. I stare at it for a minute before pointing to it looking at Daryl questionably.  “I see it too.” He says so I stand and walk through the water towards it, dig it out of the mud, and clean it off. It’s a military issue dog tag and a feeling of dread washes over me as I turn it over to read what’s stamped on it. ‘Samantha M. Summers. Date of Birth: September 20th 1982\. AB positive. No preference.’ My hand clenches around it as my breathing quickens. Looking around I start to panic my mind going through different possibilities for it to be here and buried in the mud. I don’t even notice Daryl come over and take it from me as I start pacing in full panic mode and start calling for Sarah, hoping she was still close as Sam had split the tags, one for her one for Sarah, before going to Europe so it was a higher possibility that it was Sarah’s. Suddenly Daryl grabs me and forces me to look at him as he tells me “Snap out of it. She’s going to be fine. The chain is intact so it probably fell out of her pocket.” So I snatch the necklace from him and inspect it and it’s like he said so I sigh nodding.

            “It’s getting late. Come on, let’s go back to camp. I’ll search with you tomorrow to see if she left any clues as to where she was going that might still be around.” He says then so I smile and nod at him before following him back to camp. We get back and Andrea and Shane are already back. Shane looks like he’s pissed off about something but he’s hiding it well from the others so I avoid him as I’m looking for Yori and Daryl goes to skin the squirrels he caught, back at his tent. I find Yori sitting in the R.V. looking at nothing but looking sad. I sit across from him and hand him the necklace. He looks at it and slowly looks at me and does the same thing I did back in the woods but he calms himself down coming to the conclusion that Daryl did, that it must have fallen out of her pocket and says “Sarah’s still out there. We have to find her.” I nod so he leaves going to tell Rick that Sarah was near here and to ask for help to find her. I sit there for a minute or so before Carol calls saying that dinner is done. I get up and join them though still avoiding Shane and sit between Yori and Daryl as Glenn sits a bit away feeling guilty about not telling the others about the barn. I don’t necessarily see a problem with it as it is ultimately Hershel’s decision to make not ours.

            After dinner everyone starts heading to bed so I climb up on the R.V. as Yori is now sharing with Glenn, they’re very similar so they were quick friends though Yori calls him ‘mini me.’ It starts to rain after a few minutes and I swear it’s just to piss me off. Andrea still being up tells me “Why don’t you ask one of the guys if you could spend the night with them. I would say in here but it’s pretty crowded.” Through the vent in the bathroom of the R.V. I sigh loudly as I hear thunder in the distance and know that the rain won’t let up soon. She laughs at me and says “You’re going to get sick if you stay out in the rain any longer.” ‘She’s up to something.’ I think but I give in, being almost completely soaked at this point, and sling by bag over my shoulder as I grab my bow and quiver before hopping off the R.V. I opt for Daryl and head towards his tent. But I stand there for a bit debating whether or not I should just see if Maggie will let me stay in the house for the night when the tent unzips. We stare at each other for a moment before he says “Come on.” Clearly annoyed as he reaches out and pulls me in with him.

****Daryl’s POV****

            It started raining after we went to bed and I frown as I think ‘T’s probably just going to sleep in the rain on top of the R.V. as Glenn and Yori are now sharing a tent. She’s going to get sick…’ I then debate whether or not to go and get her, I decide to go get her but when I unzip the tent she’s already standing there. I can’t help but stare at her for a minute as she’s already soaked and her clothes are clinging to her allowing anyone to see every curve of her body. I’m suddenly reminded about what happened at the CDC so I grab her arm and pull her into the tent saying “Come on.” Annoyed that she didn’t seem to care.  I zip the tent back up and look at her as she’s frowning, looking at herself before setting her bow and quiver next to my crossbow and starts to take off her shirt. “T!” I say shocked stopping her. She looks at me confused as if to say ‘You’ve seen it before. What’s the problem?’ so I ask her “You realize I’m a guy right?” she nods not understanding what I’m getting at and looks at me like I’m stupid so I sigh giving up and turn around adding “Hurry up and change.”  After a few minutes of staring at the side of the tent she throws something at the back of my head. I turn back around and see she threw the stuffed cat, Glenn found, at me. I then look at her and she shrugs as if to say ‘I had to get your attention somehow.’ I sigh and toss the cat back at her. She catches it and sets it on the top of her bag as I watch her wondering if what the others have said is true as she’s not acting much different. I must have been lost in my thoughts as her face is suddenly only a few inches away from mine and she’s looking at me questionably. I scoot back from her my face warming up causing her to look at me confused so I quickly climb in my sleeping bag saying “Go to sleep.” Before turning so I’m facing the side of the tent again hiding my red face from her. I hear her hum quietly before she lays down on the other side of the tent. I’m staring at the tent unable to go to sleep so I roll so I’m facing her, she seems to be asleep so I say quietly “I’m in love with you.” hoping that her subconscious could hear me or that she was still awake. She rolls to where she’s facing me still asleep and I can’t stop myself before I pull her to me. I freeze expecting her to wake up but she just says “Daryl…” before she mumbles something and presses herself against me. I relax and hug her before falling asleep.

 


	12. Chapter 12-Sarah!

****T’s POV****

            I wake up and am staring at someone’s chest as said someone has their arms around me keeping me there. I’m confused for a second before my face gets hot as I remember that I shared a tent with Daryl last night. He’s still asleep so I try to push away from him but fail as he just tightens his grip on me. “Daryl…” I say hoping to wake him up but all he does is hum in response. I think for a minute before trying again, this time winning and he rolls over still asleep. I sigh and grab my stuff before quietly leaving. I’m the first one up again but this time I head to the stable to visit Nelly. She whinnies happily when she notices me causing me to smile at her as I approach her. I don’t bother with the door and pull myself up on the ledge and sit one it facing her with both my legs inside her stall. Looking around I make sure no one is around before singing to her, changing the lyrics of ‘Take me Away’ by Avril Lavigne to fit, quietly “I cannot find a way to describe it. It’s there inside; all I do is hide. I wish that it would just go away. What would he do, if he knew? What would he do? All the pain I thought I knew. All the thoughts lead back to him. Back to what I cannot say. Back and forth inside my head. I can’t handle this confusion. I’m unable; come and take me away. I feel like I am all alone. All by myself I need to get around this. My words are cold, I don’t want them to hurt him. If I show him, I don’t think he’d understand. Cause no one understands.” She nudges me so I pet her whispering “I can’t tell him. I don’t want him to reject me after he finds out about my past. I’m broken…no one could love me.” Before Hershel asks “T?” I look at him so his face changes to that of the one he looks at Maggie and Beth with and says “Nelly seems to have taken quiet a liking to you.” I nod smiling that he pry and as I liked Nelly too so he says “If you want, when your group leaves you could take her with you.” I look at him shocked so he says “She trusts you enough that she won’t throw you if she gets scared but she’ll still throw one of us.” As she whinnies in agreement before nudging me again. I look at the ground debating what to say but he says “Thank me by continuing to sing more. It reminds me of better days.” I smile at him and nod patting Nelly before sliding off the ledge knowing the others are soon to wake up. Sure enough we hear Yori yelling “I dreamed about food so now I’m hungry!” only for T-Dog to tell him to shut up. I sigh as Hershel asks “Exactly how old is your brother?” “32.” I say simply so Hershel says “He acts like he’s five.” I nod but say “Don’t let it foul you though. He had over 50 confirmed kills in Afghanistan before he was discharged after losing his leg.” “You?” Hershel asks so I shake my head saying “You don’t want to know.” As I start walking back to the group Hershel asks “More than him?” I pause and say quietly “A lot more.” Before leaving determined to keep my feelings and my past to myself, from now on.

****Hershel’s POV****

            I pause at the door to the stable as I hear a woman singing sadly and quietly inside. It’s not Maggie, Beth, or Patricia so it must be one from Rick’s group. Her voice reminds me of the past before people got sick so I listen to her. She stops so I walk in looking around for her, T is sitting on the ledge of Nelly’s stall. I hear her whisper “I can’t tell him. I don’t want him to reject me after he finds out about my past. I’m broken...no one could love me.” so I ask “T?” She looks at me like she was caught doing something she didn’t want others to know about and she seems just like one of my own children at this point so I say “Nelly seems to have taken quiet a liking to you.” She nods smiling basically saying she has taken a liking to Nelly as well and thanking me for not prying so I say “If you want, when your group leaves you could take her with you.” She looks at me shocked so I say “She trusts you enough that she won’t throw you if she gets scared but she’ll throw one of us.” As Nelly whinnies in agreement before nudging T. She looks at the ground so I say “Thank me by continuing to talk and sing more. It reminds me of better days.” She smiles at me and nods patting Nelly before sliding off the ledge. Suddenly Yori yells “I dreamed about food so now I’m hungry!” only for T-Dog to tell him to shut up. She sighs so I ask “Exactly how old is your brother?” “32.” She answers simply so I say “He acts like he’s five.” She nods and says warningly “Don’t let it foul you though. He had over 50 confirmed kills in Afghanistan before he was discharged after losing his leg.” So I ask “You?” not sure if I truly want to know the answer. She shakes her head and says sadly “You don’t want to know.” She starts walking back so I ask “More than him?” wanting her to trust me with the information causing her to pause and look at the ground as she says quietly “A lot more.” Before leaving. I couldn’t believe she could have killed anything let alone people but am reminded of our meeting, her with Carl passed out in her arms as I ask “Was he bit.” And her face turns to one of rage as she says "Shot. By your man. He said to find Hershel. You him?" but I also remember how she refused help till Carl was helped and how she could tell that I wasn’t a doctor for humans. ‘She’d do anything to protect those she cares about be it killing, dying, or keeping her feelings to herself.’

****T’s POV****

            When I walk up to the group Yori pounces on me and screams in my ear “T! I’m hungry!” I push him off while shoving his own shirt in his mouth, signaling for him to shut up. Yori then plops down where he was and starts pouting like a child. Andrea comforts him as T-Dog says “Good!” as he helps Dale cook breakfast. I then stand away from them and Glenn sits next to me so I look at him and he silently asks me what to do as the others get some food and start eating. I sigh and nod so he looks towards the house. Maggie is there and she shakes her head so he looks at Dale who nods.  Glenn then gets up and walks in front of everyone and says “Um Guys. So…” trailing off everyone looks at him so he blurts out “The barn is full of walkers.”

Everyone seems shocked except for Yori, so he must have found out earlier. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Andrea says so we all go to confirm it with our own eyes. We stand back a ways as Shane looks in the barn through a gap in the boards. A walker growls at him so he turns and stalks over to Rick saying “You cannot tell me you’re all right with this.” So Rick says “No, I’m not, but we’re guests here. This isn’t our land.” Causing Shane to yell “God, this is our lives!” “Lower your voice.” Glenn tells him as Andrea says “We can’t just sweep this under the rug.” “It ain’t right. Not remotely. We’ve either got to go in there, we’ve got to make things right or we’ve just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time.” Shane says and Yori is starting to get pissed so I grab onto his arm as Rick says “We can’t go.” “Why, Rick? Why?” Shane asks so Yori says “Because Sarah is still out there.” “Okay. Okay, I think it’s time that we all start to just consider the other possibility.” Shane says causing Rick to say “Shane, we’re not leaving Sarah behind.” “I can find this girl. We just found her necklace yesterday.” Daryl says angry causing Shane to say laughing “You found her necklace, Daryl. That’s all you did. You found a necklace.” “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Daryl yells so Shane yells “Now I’m just saying what needs to be said here. You get a good lead, it’s in the first 48 hours. We don’t even know how long it’s been since they were overrun.” Rick cuts in saying “Shane, stop.” But Shane continues “Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction.” “Shut your mouth!” Daryl yells trying to attack Shane.  Rick pushes him back but Shane yells “Don’t come at me, man!” so the others get between them and Lori pushes Shane back as Rick is yelling “Back off!” “Keep your hands off me.” Shane tells her starting to walk away so Rick says “Now just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out.” This causes Shane to yell “What are you gonna figure out?!” Lori gets between them as Rick says “If we’re gonna stay, if we’re gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land.” “Hershel sees those things in there as people, sick people, his wife, his stepson.” Dale says causing Rick to ask “You knew?” “Yesterday I talked to Hershel.” Dale says not disclosing that I was there too so Shane accuses “And you waited the night?” Yori is beyond pissed at Shane at this point so I squeeze his arm tighter as Dale says “I thought we could survive one more night. We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one.” “The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no.” Shane yells causing the walkers to push against the doors growling. So everyone but Shane leaves, Yori still glaring at Shane as I pull him away.

            I try to calm Yori down but he really wants to go back and kill Shane for implying the Sarah is dead. So I drag him into the woods with me. He stops fighting me after we get a few feet away from the edge and asks “Why don’t you just let me kill him?” I let go of him and turn to him and look at him warningly causing him to take a step back before getting angry at me and yelling “You don’t even like him! Yet, you are still protecting him?!” “What do you think will happen to you if you kill him?” I sign angry causing him to look away and mumble something. I sigh causing him to look at me and ask “What’s wrong with you?” I look at him confused so he says “You haven’t changed at all. Even after all this shit.” I blink at him surprised so he says carefully “You have probably already decided not to tell Daryl you love him.” I growl out “What are you getting at Yori?” “I told him that you do.” He says causing my eyes to widen before I growl “And why would you do that?!” “I thought he should know since he loves you too.” He defends causing me to sigh and mutter “He doesn’t.” “He does! Everyone sees it but you!” He yells causing me to glare at him and spit out “He _can’t_ Yori.” “T you-“ He starts but I cut him off by shaking my head and pointing back to camp ordering “Go Yori. I don’t need to hear those lies. We both know what I am. What I can do.” He looks like a kicked puppy so I sigh, turn, and go deeper into the woods leaving him.

****Daryl’s POV****

            I head to the stables deciding to look for Sarah after T drags Yori into the woods to calm him down, as he looked like he was ready to kill Shane. So I get saddle and put it on the stand with effort as Carol walks in saying “You can’t.” “I’m fine.” I tell her so she says “Hershel said you need to heal.” “Yeah, I don’t care.” I tell her getting some reins for the horse. “Well, I do, and so does T. Rick’s going out later to follow the trail.” She says so I say “Yeah, well, I ain’t gonna sit around and do nothing.” Starting to put the reins on the horse. “No, you’re gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse.” She says but I ignore her so she adds “We don’t know if we’re gonna find her, Daryl. We don’t.” So I look at her for a minute before walking up to her asking “What?” “T can’t lose you, too.” She says crying so I look at her a moment before throwing the reins down. I start to walk away but look at her before pushing the saddle over hurting my wound so she quickly asks “Are you all right?” but I counter “Just leave me be.” Walking away and adding “Stupid bitch.” I get back to our camp when I notice Yori sitting with his head in his hands. “T?” I ask when I look around and don’t see her causing Yori to say “I screwed up, by telling you.” “Telling me what?” I ask confused so he looks at me and says “The past. I should’ve let her tell you when she was ready. Instead I tell you hoping to get you to leave her alone. But that didn’t quite work now did it?” He then looks at the ground so I say “You can’t get rid of me that easily.” “Look…I’ve screwed up, I know that. I should have just waited for you two to tell each other but no. I go and tell you that you like each other but she can’t accept that anyone could love her. And that’s without me telling her I told you about the past. If she knew I told you now…” He says trailing off so I leave him to wallow in self-pity deciding that I needed to apologize to Carol. I find her and tell her to follow me and I take her to where there are some Cherokee Roses growing and ask “You see it?” pointing to them as she asks “See what?” “We’ll find her.” I tell her before pausing and looking at her before saying “Hell, I’m sorry about what happened this morning.” “You wanted to look for her…Just like you did for Sophia. I’ve been wanting to ask you, why?” She says looking at me so I say “’Cause I knew she was still out there and I think that Sarah is still out there now…Truth is, what else I got to do?” She then touches the rose and says “We’ll find her. We will. I see it…T, she believes it to.” I don’t say anything so she looks at me before saying “You need to tell her how you feel about her.” “I know that.” I say thinking ‘Now more than ever.’

****T’s POV****

            While walking I run into Dale, he tries to hide the bag of guns behind him seeing me so I ask him “Hiding them from Shane?” not really concerned about not talking at this point. He nods so I help him find a good spot. We had just found a spot for them when Shane says “Man, this is a good hiding place.” We look at him so he adds “We ain’t been in the swamps much, huh?” before walking towards us as Dale says “Imagine if you applied your tracking skills to finding Sarah.” Continuing to put the bag in garbage bags. “How about you just give me the bag, huh?” Shane says so Dale looks at him and says “I’m not gonna do that.” I’m waiting for Shane to make a move to hurt Dale but all he does is say “Yeah, you are, Dale. Unless, well, you do have that rifle over your shoulder.” “You gonna shoot us like you did Otis? Tell another story?” Dale asks causing Shane to chuckle and say “No, man. Hell, when you really look at it in the cold light of day, you two are pretty much dead already. Just give me the guns. Do it now.” “You think this is gonna keep us safe?” Dale asks pointing at them so Shane says “Mm-hmm. I know it is.” “Rick is trying to get Hershel-“ Dale starts to say but Shane cuts him off by saying “Dale, shut up. Just shut up and give me the guns.” Dale looks at him a minute before giving the bag to me and readying the rifle before pointing it at Shane asking “Am I gonna have to shoot you?” Shane starts to approach so Dale adds “Do I have to kill you? Is that what it’s gonna take?” Shane stops as he presses the barrel of the gun to his chest and says “Yeah. That’s what it’s gonna take.” Dale is debating so I push his rifle down and shove the bag at Shane. He wasn’t ready for it so it falls as Dale says “This is where you belong, Shane.” Causing Shane to ask “How’s that Dale?” “This world, what it is now, this is where you belong. And T has what it takes but may sacrifice herself to save the others and while I may not have what it takes to last for long, but that’s okay. ‘Cause at least we can say when the world goes to shit we didn’t let it take us down with it.” Dale says as Shane picks up the bag and says “Fair enough.” before storming away. Dale looks at me and I nod stating “Shit’s about to go down.” so we follow him. We hear gun shots, a few minutes later, so I look at him and he yells “Go I’ll be fine!” I nod and sprint back.

            As I get out closer, I hear more gunshots before Shane yells “That’s its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?” I come out of the woods as Shane shoots the walker on a snare pole that Hershel is holding. “Shane, enough.” Rick yells and Shane approaches it saying “Yeah, you’re right, man. That is enough.” Before shooting it in the head. It falls and Hershel drops to his knees as everyone is silent for a minute. Maggie goes to Hershel and I go to Yori as Shane starts yelling “Enough risking our lives for a little girl who’s gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough. Rick, it ain’t like it was before!” I quickly move in front of Yori as he goes to aim at Shane before Shane continues “Now if y’all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I’m talking about fighting right here, right now.” Before running to the door of the barn as Rick says “Take the snare pole. Hershel, take the snare pole. Hershel, listen to me, man, please. Take it now. Hershel! Take it!” but Hershel is too traumatized and Shane starts hitting the lock on the barn with a pick-axe. Yori hands me the gun looking away from me as Rick yells “No, Shane. Do not do this, brother. Wait!” Shane breaks off the lock then ignoring them and Glenn yells “Don’t do it!” and Lori yells “Rick!” “Please!” Rick yells but Shane takes off the board and tosses it away before banging on the doors yelling “Come on.” Before backing away with his gun aimed at the doors. “This is not the way! Please!” Rick yells as Lori tells Carl and Carol tells Sophia “Get behind me.” The walkers then start to come out of the barn so Andrea, T-Dog, and Daryl get closer to Shane before they start shooting the walkers. Glenn hesitates and says “Maggie.” She says “Okay.” Nodding at him and crying so he goes to help. Shane then turns around and I’m ready to quickly take him out it he aims at Rick but he shoots the walker Rick had on the snare pole instead and goes back to shooting the ones coming out of the barn. Lori and Carl run to Rick but he stops them yelling “Stay back!” The walkers die down so the others lower their weapons. Shane looks at Rick before Dale shows up. Soft growling then starts from inside the barn so we all look at it.  Slowly Sarah steps out half her neck missing and Yori whispers/yells “Sarah!” and tries to run to her I push him back shaking my head. Daryl quickly comes over hearing him and holds him back as Yori starts crying her name. Sarah slowly approaches and Rick looks at me before slowly approaching her. I quickly move in front of him shaking my head stopping him, before turning to her. I aim the gun that Yori had given me at her and step closer saying “I’m sorry Sarah. Your fight is over.” Before shooting her in the head. She falls re-killed as Yori starts wailing. I drop the gun as I slowly turn and glare at Shane before spitting out “You happy now?!” He and everyone still standing takes an involuntary step back so I turn back to Sarah and slowly go over and stand next to her, staring down at her. ‘This is my punishment.’

 


	13. Cracks are Forming

****Daryl’s POV****

            “I’m sorry Sarah. Your fight is over.” T says gently before shooting Sarah in the head and as she falls I let go of Yori as he starts wailing. I watch as T drops the gun as she slowly turns, her face a mix of rage and sorrow, glaring at Shane before spitting out “You happy now?!” He takes an involuntary step back the same as everyone else still standing afraid of her. The tone was deadly and threatening but scarily calm at the same time. She then turns back to Sarah and slowly goes over and stands next to her just staring at her. Yori having recovered then stands and goes to stand next to her. He whispers something but she waves it off and looks at Maggie who shakes her head. T seems to understand what she means as she nods and as Andrea goes to check the barn before Beth brakes free of Jimmy and rushes forward. Rick tries to stop her but she pushes him off and slowly approaches a female walker. Yori follows her and helps her move the other one off the female and Beth rolls the female over. Suddenly the walker growls and grabs at Beth who screams. We rush over to help as Yori keeps it from biting her. We get Beth away and T stabs it in the head with her knife. She leaves it there and stands as Yori gently lets go of the walker. They look at Hershel who nods holding the sobbing Beth. Suddenly Maggie lifts T’s shirt saying “Your wound opened up. Come on I’ll replace the stiches.” Before dragging T with her as Hershel starts leading the sobbing Beth away with Yori, Patricia, Rick, Shane, and Glenn following them. I rip T’s knife out of the walkers head as Andrea goes back into the barn. She come back out with an old blanket and walks over to Sarah. She then covers her with the blanket and looks at me before saying “Why don’t you go return her knife. We’ll handle it here.”

****T’s POV****

            Yori comes over and stands next to me and whispers “Sorry I lost it.” I wave him off and look at Maggie to see if they knew about Sarah. She shakes her head so I nod and watch Beth as she brakes free of Jimmy and rushes forward. Rick tries to stop her but she pushes him off and slowly approaches the walker that must have been her mother. Yori follows her and helps her move the other walker off Annette. Suddenly the Annette growls and grabs at Beth who screams. Yori is quick and keeps her from biting Beth as we rush over to help. The others get Beth away so I stab Annette in the head with my knife. She goes limp so I leave my knife there and stand as Yori gently lets go of her. We look at Hershel who nods at us in thanks as he holds the sobbing Beth. Suddenly Maggie lifts my shirt saying “Your wound opened up. Come on I’ll replace the stiches.” Already dragging me with her as Hershel follows, leading the sobbing Beth away with Yori, Patricia, Rick, Shane, and Glenn also following us.

            I sigh as Shane accuses “We’ve been out-we’ve been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along? You knew.” “Leave them alone.” Yori tells Shane as Rick grabs Shane saying “Hey, Shane, just stop, man.” But Shane rips away from him saying “Get your hands off me. You knew and you kept it from us.” “I didn’t know.” Hershel says causing Shane to say “That’s bullshit. I think y’all knew.” “We didn’t know!” Maggie yells at Shane causing him to ask/yell “Why was she there?!” “Your…Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed.” Hershel says as we get to the porch causing Shane to ask “You expect me to believe that? I look like an idiot?” Rick then says “Shane, hey, hey, hey.” Putting a hand on Shane stopping him as Hershel yells “I don’t care what you believe!” “Everybody just calm down.” Rick says trying but Hershel yells “Get him off my land!” pointing at Shane. “Let me tell you something.”  Shane says going at Hershel but Yori pushes him away yelling “Hey. Don’t touch him! Haven’t you done enough?” Maggie then opens the door to the house as Hershel says “I mean it-off my land.” Before following Beth and Patricia inside. Maggie drags me in with her then as Glenn and Yori follows. Patricia takes me from Maggie saying “I’ll stich her up.” Already dragging me away not waiting for a reply from her.

****Yori’s POV****

            I follow Tia and Patricia. Patricia sits her on the bed and looks at me and says “Make sure she doesn’t leave.” Before leaving the room as Tia’s nose twitches a little knowing that I won’t let her get out of getting the stiches redone. “How’d you get it?” I ask Tia as she takes off her shirt. She ignores me as she starts taking out the ripped stiches and Patricia comes back in with a box of medical stuff saying “She got it protecting that boy, Carl.” “Your loyalty is going to get you killed.” I tell her again causing her to say, like she always does “I’m still here, ain’t I?” Patricia then starts to re-stich the wound so I sigh and tell Tia “I’m not the only one, anymore, who won’t know what to do if you die.” She looks at me with a look that accuses me of lying and that I was stupid so I say “You need to figure this one out on your own.” Causing her to frown at me before looking at the door to the room as it opens. Daryl walks in and quickly averts his gaze to anywhere but Tia as he says “Came to give ya this.” Handing her her knife. She nods taking it so I turn going closer to him so Tia couldn’t read my lips as I whisper to him “We seem to have a problem right now.” Then turn back around and say cheerfully “I’m going to go tell mini me that you’re fine.” Before leaving the room as Daryl huffs and follows me. “Is she really fine?” Daryl asks when we get far enough away from the door. “Physically yes. Mentally no. She blames herself anytime someone is hurt or killed. I’m sure you’ve witnessed this before.” I tell him and the look on his face confirms it.

****Time Skip****

            During the funeral no one said anything. Tia stood farthest from the group with her bow, quiver, and knife never leaving her since she got them after getting stitched up. She had even put on her hoodie, beanie, and gotten a bandana from Maggie to put around her neck. Her face was neutral, not even her eyes conveyed any type of emotion when she looked over the group. I could tell most of the others were worried about her change in behavior but had no idea what to do about it or what to think. ‘Hell I don’t know what to do or think right now.’ I think watching as the others avoided her when they started to leave till it was just us two there. I go to ask her if she’s sure she’s fine but she sighs, holds up a hand cutting me off before I could start, and walks away.

****T’s POV***

            “So if your group leaves, you wouldn’t stay?” I hear Maggie ask Glenn as I helped Beth with the dishes. I knew the shock would soon be too much for her so I wanted to stick close to her. “I-I hadn’t really thought about it. I mean, I-I didn’t know that….do-do you think this is really the time to discuss this, I mean?” He replies causing her to say “Well, I’m not really feeling like there’s a lot of time for anything.” “No, no, there-there is….there is. I’d want-“ He starts but is cut off by Beth collapsing, taking the dishes with her.  I catch her before she can hit the ground as Maggie and Glenn run in with her saying “Oh my God!” “She’s in shock.” I state picking her up and taking her to her room.

            “I can’t find Hershel.” Glenn says walking into the room with Yori as I check Beth’s blood pressure. “I’ll go out and find him.” I sigh out as Lori comes in asking “What’s wrong with her?” “She’s in shock.” Maggie tells her causing her to ask “Where’s Hershel?” “Can’t find him anywhere.” Yori says causing her to say “I’ll tell Rick.” As she walks out. “You sure it’s shock?” Maggie asks then so Yori says “Yeah. Seen a lot of it in the Army.” “She’ll be fine.” I say before looking at Maggie and asking “Any idea where he’d go?”

****Yori’s POV****

            I stay with Beth as Tia, Maggie, Glenn, Rick, Lori, and Share look for clues in his room. A few minutes go by and I hear Lori ask “You want to have a conversation about this before you leave?” from in the hallway. “So you’re seriously gonna go after this guy with everything that’s going on, huh?” Shane asks then earning a “He’s right. This is not the time to head off, not today. You don’t always have to-“from Lori but Rick cuts her off with an “I’m not arguing. It’s the least I can do for Hershel after we-“causing Shane to cut him off with a “What? After we what?” It was silent for a few seconds before Lori speaks again “Carl said he would’ve shot Sarah himself. That’s your son. He’s getting cold. He’s growing up in a world with…he’s growing up in a world where he needs a father like you. Around, alive, not running off, solving everybody else’s problems.” “It’s not just his problem I’m trying to solve. We need Hershel for the baby. I’m going after him.” Rick counters causing me to sigh and think ‘This group is about ready to break…This isn’t going to end well for us.’

****T’s POV****

            Rick was making sure he had a full clip as we wait for Glenn. He walks out of the house with Maggie a few seconds later. They kiss before he walks over slowly so Rick asks “You ready?” “Yeah.” Glenn replies getting in the car so Rick looks at me. I nod and hop in the back so Rick gets in and starts it. I look at Maggie who gives me a ‘You guys better come back.’ Look before going back in the house.

****Dale’s POV****

            “Dale, can I talk to you a minute?” Yori asks stopping me from leaving the room so I ask “About what son?” “I wanted to know what you felt about this group.” He says so I say “It’s dying.” “That’s what I thought…Dale, do me a favor and help make sure it doesn’t take my sister with it.” He says almost pleading. “Of course.”

Walking out of the house with Lori I say “This place is going to hell.” “Yeah, I’m trying hard to prevent that.” She says so I say “You won’t be able to. No, there are people in this group who think that what Shane did was justified.” “I know you two can’t stand each other, but he did something that needed to be done.” She replies so I state “He’s dangerous.” “Yeah, he’s a hothead.” She says so I say “No, Lori, he’s dangerous. I think he killed Otis.” “Otis was killed by walkers.” She says in disbelief so we stop and I say “He knew how to handle walkers. Otis was the one who was putting them in the barn.” “You need to be really clear with me right now. What are you saying?” She says serious so I say “I believe that…that Shane sacrificed Otis. I can’t prove it, but I-I-I think that he-I think that he shot him and left him for bait, so that he could get away.” “Shane may be a hothead, but he’s not a murderer. And why would he kill somebody who’s trying to help?” She defends so I say “I don’t know. Maybe he was pinned down. He said-he said it. He all but threw it in my face. I’m telling you-I knew guys like him, and sooner or later…he’s gonna kill somebody else.” With that I walk away from her.

****Glenn’s POV****

            Rick kept glancing at me as he drove so I finally said what was on my mind “Maggie said she loves me.” Rick nods so I add “She doesn’t mean it. I mean, she can’t. I mean, why…she’s upset or confused. She’s probably feeling, like-““I think she’s smart enough to know what she’s feeling.” Rick says cutting me off so I shake my head saying “No. No.” He laughs so I say “You know, she wants to be in love, so she needs something to, like, hold onto.” “Glenn, it’s pretty obvious to everyone Maggie loves you, and not just because you’re one of the last men standing. So what’s the problem?” Rick says so I say “I didn’t say it back.” T gives me a ‘You’re stupid.’ Look as Rick says “Huh.” “I’ve never had a woman say that to me before, you know. Except my mom, of course, and my sisters. But with Maggie, it’s different. I mean, we barely know each other. What does she really know about me? Nothing. We’re practically strangers. But I didn’t know what to do with it. I just stood there like a jerk.” I explain so Rick says “Hey. Hey, this is a good thing. Something we don’t get enough of these days. Enjoy it. And when we get back return the favor. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.”

            We get to the bar then so when Rick turns off the car I say “Rick. We know about Lori, her being pregnant. We got her those pills.” “I figured.” He says then before getting out. We follow him and I apologize “I’m sorry I kept it from you.” “Don’t be. You did what you thought was right. It just so happens it wasn’t.” Rick replies causing T to sigh and state “Ultimately it was her decision to tell you, not ours.” “You’re reason isn’t wrong.” He tells her before we go into the bar. “Hershel.” Rick says as I shut the door behind us. “Who’s with you?” Hershel asks so Rick says “Glenn and T.” “Maggie send them?” he asks as we walk forward so T states “Volunteered.” “They’re good like that.” Rick adds before walking up next to Hershel and asking “How many have you had?” “Not enough.” He replies so Rick looks back at us before saying “Let’s finish this up back at home. Beth collapsed, is in some sort of state. T says its shock. I think you are, too.” “Maggie’s with her?” Hershel asks causing T to sigh as Rick says “Yeah, but Beth needs you.” “What could I do? She needs her mother. Or rather to mourn…like she should’ve done weeks ago. I robbed her of that. I see that now.” Hershel says causing Rick to say “You thought there was a cure. You can’t blame yourself for holding out for hope.” “Hope? When I first saw T running across my field with your boy in her arms, I had little hope he would survive. Then when she collapsed I had no hope she would.” Hershel says so Rick says “But they did.” “They did. Even though we lost Otis. Your man Shane made it back and we saved her. That was the miracle that proved to me miracles do exist. Only it was a sham, a bait and switch. I was a fool, Rick. And you people saw that….My daughters deserve better than that.” Hershel states.

****T’s POV****

            Sighing I walk over and sit on the counter next to Hershel. He looks at me as Glenn asks “What? Are we just going to wait till he passes out?” “Just go. Just go!” Hershel orders so I just lean back on arms and give him a ‘Not without you.’  Look as Rick says “I promised Maggie I’d bring you home safe.” Hershel chuckles before asking “Like you promised that little girl?” I sigh as there’s a moment of silence before Rick asks “So what’s your plan? Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your girls alone?” This causes Hershel to stand up and say “Stop telling me how to care for my family, my farm. You people are like a plague! I do the Christian thing, give you shelter, and you destroy it all!” “The world was already in bad shape when we met.” Rick tells him earning a “And you take no responsibility! You’re supposed to be their leader!” “Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?!” Rick yells so Hershel slowly says “Yes…yes…yes, you are.” Before sitting back down. “Come on. Your girls need you know more than ever.” Rick tells him taking his arm so Hershel pulls it away saying “I didn’t want to believe you. You told me there was no cure, that these people were dead, not sick. I chose not to believe that. But when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming, that’s when I knew what an ass I’d been, that Annette had been dead long ago and I was feeding her rotten corpse! That’s when I knew there was no hope.” He pauses, looks at me, and continues “And when that little girl came out of the barn, the look on your face-I knew you knew it, too. Right? There is no hope. And you know it now, like I do. Don’t you?” He pauses again, turns back to Rick, and finishes “There is no hope for any of us.” “Look, I’m done. I’m not doing this anymore, cleaning up after you. You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death.” Rick says so I add “It’s always been there, whether it’s from a heart attack, war, or a walker. What’s the difference? You didn’t think it was hopeless before and now there are people back at home trying to hang on. They need us, even if it’s just to give them a reason to go on, even if we don’t believe it ourselves.” I stop so Rick adds “You know what? This isn’t about what we believe anymore. It’s about them.” With that Hershel finishes his drink and places the glass upside down on the bar. Hershel had just stood up when the front door opened and two men walked in and one said “Son of a bitch. They’re alive.”

            I spun so I was on the other side of the counter as they approached. Leaning on the counter next to Glenn I watch them carefully, they gave me a really bad vibe. They sat down and the smaller guy said “I’m Dave. That scrawny-looking douche bag there is Tony.” Tony chuckles out an “Eat me, Dave.” “Hey, maybe someday I will. We met on I-95 coming out of Philly. Damn shit-show that was.” Dave says then so Glenn, being a friendly idiot, says “I’m Glenn. It’s nice to meet some new people.” “Rick Grimes.” Rick introduces as he hands Tony a shot, but I knew he didn’t trust these people. “How about you, pal? Have one?” Dave asks Hershel who says “I just quit.” “You’ve got a unique sense of timing, my friend.” Dave tells him so Rick says “His name’s Hershel. He lost people today, a lot of them.” After a few seconds Dave lies “I’m truly sorry to hear that. To better days and new friends. And to our dead-may they be in a better place.” They all drink their shot before Dave pulls out his gun and says “Not bad, huh? I got it off a cop.” “I’m a cop.” Rick says so Dave quickly says “This one was already dead.” “You fellas are a long way from Philadelphia.” Rick says causing me to think ‘Really? Now you bring it up?’ as Tony says “It feels like we’re a long way from anywhere.” “What drove you south?” Rick asks so Dave says “Well, I can tell you it wasn’t the weather. I must’ve dropped thirty pounds in sweat alone down here.” “I wish.” Tony mutters but Dave continues “No, first it was DC. I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed, we never even got close. We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks, keep hauling ass. Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way out of this thing.” “One guy told us there was a Coast Guard center in the Gulf, sending ferries to the islands.” Tony pipes in so Dave adds “The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country-Kansas, Nebraska.” “Nebraska?” Glenn asks so Tony explains “Low population, lots of guns.” “Kinda makes sense.” Glenn says looking at me so I shrug before Dave asks “You ever been to Nebraska, kids? The reason they call ‘em flyover states.” Tony and Dave laugh at the joke before Dave asks “How about you guys?” “Fort Benning, eventually.” Rick answers to which Dave says “I hate to piss in your cornflakes, officer, but…um…we ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning. He said the place was overrun by lamebrains.” “Wait, Fort Benning is gone? Are you for real?” Glenn asks to which Dave answers “Sadly, I am. Ugly truth is there is no way out of this mess. Just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn’t grab ahold of you when you sleep.” “If you sleep.” Tony states so Dave says “Yeah, it doesn’t look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?” I shake my head so Rick says “Not really.” Unconvinced Dave asks “Those your cars out front?” “Yeah. Why?” Glenn asks, being the naive person he was, so Dave says “We’re living in ours. Those look kinda empty, clean. Where’s all your gear?” “We’re with a larger group. Out scouting, thought we could use a drink.” Hershel says so Dave says “A drink? Hershel, I thought you quit…Well, we’re thinking of setting up around here. Is it safe?” I sigh as Glenn answers “It can be. Although we have killed a couple of walkers around here.” “Walkers? That what you call them?” Dave asks so Glenn chuckles out a “Yeah.” “That’s good. I like that. I like that better than lamebrains.” “More succinct.” Tony pipes up earning a “Okay, Tony went to college.” From Dave.

“Two years.” Tony informs before there was an awkward and tense silence for a few minutes. “So what-so what, you guys set up on the outskirts or something? That new development?” Dave asks so Tony adds “Trailer park or something?” as he gets up and walks over to a corner. “A farm?” Dave asks before singing “Old McDonald had a farm.” Causing Tony to chuckle before Dave asks again “You on a farm?” Tony starts peeing on the floor so Dave asks “Is it safe? It’s gotta be. You got food, water?” “You got real cooze? Ain’t had a piece of ass in weeks. Though quiet kid would be a nice substitute.” Tony says chuckling so I quickly stab the counter with my knife and he shuts up. “Listen, pardon my friend. City kids-they got no tact. No disrespect.” Dave says pausing before looking at Glenn and adding “So listen, Glenn-“ but Rick cuts him off by saying “We’ve said enough.” “Well, hang on a second. This farm, it sounds pretty sweet. Don’t it sound sweet, Tony?” Dave says earning a “Yeah, real sweet.” From him so he continues “How about a little southern hospitality? We got some buddies back at camp, been having a real hard time. I don’t see why you can’t make room for a few more. We could pool our resources, our manpower.” “Look, I’m sorry. That’s not an option.” Rick says causing the two to look at each other before Dave says “Doesn’t sound like it’d be a problem.” “I’m sorry. We can’t.” Hershel says so Rick adds “We can’t take in any more.” Dave chuckles before saying “You guys are something else. I thought-I thought we were friends. We got people we gotta look out for, too.” “We don’t know anything about you.” Rick says so Dave says “No, that’s true. You don’t know anything about us. You don’t know what we’ve had to go through out there. The things we’ve had to do. I bet you’ve had to do some of those same things yourself. Am I right? ‘Cause ain’t nobody’s hands clean in what’s left of this world. We’re all the same. So come on, let’s-let’s take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we’ll get to know each other.” “That’s not gonna happen.” Rick states causing Dave to start “Rick-“ but Tony cuts him off by saying “This is bullshit.” “Calm down.” Rick tells him earning a “Don’t tell me to calm down. Don’t ever tell me to calm down. I’ll shoot you four assholes in the head and take your damn farm!” from him. Rick stands so Dave jumps between them saying “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Relax. Take it easy. Nobody’s killing anybody. Nobody’s shooting or knifing anybody. Right, Rick, Quiet?” before he jumps behind the perpendicular counter. Rick turns to him causing Tony to reach behind him for his gun so I pull my knife up as Dave holds his hands up saying “Look.” He places his gun on the counter and continues “We’re just friends having a drink. That’s all. Now where’s the good stuff, huh? Good stuff, good stuff, good stuff. Let’s see.” Glenn is confused at what is going on especially when Rick grabs his gun when Dave leans down. “Hey, look at that. That’ll work.” Dave says pulling up a bottle so Rick relaxes his hand a little as Dave continues “You gotta understand-we can’t stay out there. You know what it’s like.” “Yeah, I do. But the farm is too crowded as is. I’m sorry. You’ll have to keep looking.” Rick tells him so he says “Keep looking. Where do you suggest we do that?” “I don’t know. I hear Nebraska’s nice.” Rick tells him causing him to laugh out “Nebraska. This guy.” Before going for his gun. Rick shoots him in the head as I throw my knife into Tony’s.

 

 


End file.
